american

Forms

american m or n (feminine singular americană, masculine plural americani, feminine/neuter plural americane)^[1]

Etymology

DELR takes it as borrowed from French américain and New Latin Americanus, and the DA says it was formed after the French word.^[2][3] Marcu's MDN gives the French word alone.^[4] DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary analyse it as from Romanian America + -an, comparing Italian americano and the French adjective.^[5][6][1]

The name New Latin America was given to the South American continent by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller on a map of 1507, in honour of the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, Latinized as Americus Vespucius;^[2] Gerardus Mercator extended it to North America in 1538.^[2] The French adjective appears in 1576, derived from the French name of the continent.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1800, in Piuariu-Molnar, with the sense “from America”.^[2] MDA2 dates it only from the DA (1913).^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant “of America”, either continent, and was then narrowed to the United States.^[2][5] DEX gives the other American states as the rarer sense.^[5] The DA records the plural alune americane “peanuts” and an extended sense “huge, extraordinary, exaggerated, as in America”: își face o reclamă americană “he advertises himself on a huge scale”.^[3] Marcu's MDN gives the feminine noun the sense “the English spoken in the United States and Canada”.^[4]

Its family grew in the 19th century: americănesc and americănește are recorded in 1839, americanism in 1877 and americaniza in 1880, both in Eminescu, and the feminine americancă in 1888.^[2] The noun americă “cheap cotton cloth” (1858) was formed on the name of the continent itself.^[2]

Timeline

• 1800 – the first record, in Piuariu-Molnar.^[2]
• 1839 – americănesc and americănește, in Vaillant.^[2]
• 1858 – americă “cheap cotton cloth”.^[2]
• 1877 – americanism, in Eminescu.^[2]
• 1880 – americaniza, in Eminescu.^[2]
• 1888 – americancă “American woman”.^[2]
• 1896 – americanist.^[2]
• 1913 – the DA, the first record MDA2 gives.^[6]
• 1948 – antiamerican.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An American: a person from the United States or, more rarely, from another American state.^[5][6]
2. (feminine) American English.^[4]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the United States or, more rarely, another American state, or to Americans: un film american “an American film”.^[5][6]

Word family

• americancă
• americanism
• americanist
• americanistică
• americaniza
• americănesc
• americănește
• antiamerican
• antiamericanism
• nord-american
• nord-americancă
• panamerican
• panamericanism
• proamerican

Related words

• America

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. american
3. ^ a b Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. american
4. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. american
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 35
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 52
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert