amiral

Forms

amiral m (plural amirali)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French amiral, the source that MDA2, DEX, the DA and the neologism dictionaries name.^[2][3][4][5] DELR gives several sources at once: the French word, Italian ammiraglio and Modern Greek αμιράλις (amirális), the Greek word itself taken from Italian.^[6] Tiktin also names Italian and French, and Marcu & Maneca compare the Italian word.^[7][8]

The French word goes back, through Medieval Latin amiralis, to Arabic أَمِير (ʔamīr, “commander”), the word that also gave emir.^[1][9] DELR explains the final ⟨-al⟩ as the Arabic article of a title that followed the noun, in phrases meaning “commander of the fleet”, “commander of the sea” or “supreme commander”.^[6] The French word had several old forms, among them Old French amiralt in the Chanson de Roland (1080), and the word first meant the commander in chief of the Saracens; the sense “commander of the fleet” arose at the court of the Normans in Sicily.^[10][6]

The old variant admiral, used in Transylvania and Moldavia, is from German Admiral, and DELR adds a Russian source of the same form.^[6] The German word continues the old French spelling admiral, which was associated with words of admiring; the DA says that the German form reached the Romanians of Transylvania and Bukovina.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to about 1660, in the Romanian Hronograf (chronograph).^[6] Tiktin's first record is of 1780, while MDA2 only cites the DA of 1913.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The word names the highest rank of the navy and the officer who holds it;^[3][9] Scriban compares it to a general on land.^[3][9] Used as an adjective after a noun, it marks the ship that carries the admiral and flies his flag: navă amiral, vas amiral “flagship”.^[6][2] Tiktin already records the second sense, the butterfly Vanessa atalanta (the red admiral).^[7][3]

The family grew in the late 18th and the 19th century: viceamiral (1792, then also vițeamiral) and contraamiral (1833) come from French, amiralitate (1792–1793, first as admiralita) follows French amirauté and German Admiralität, and amiraleasă “admiral's wife” is recorded in 1839.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1660 – the first record, in the Romanian Hronograf.^[6]
• 1780 – Tiktin's first record.^[7]
• 1792 – viceamiral (as vițeamiral) “vice admiral”.^[6]
• 1792–1793 – admiralita, the first form of amiralitate “admiralty”.^[6]
• 1833 – contraamiral “rear admiral”, in Asachi.^[6]
• 1839 – amiraleasă “admiral's wife”.^[6]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary gives amiral and admiral side by side.^[11]
• 1939 – amiralat “the dignity of admiral”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. admiral: the highest rank in the navy, and the officer who holds it.^[3][2][1]
2. (attributively, after a noun) carrying the admiral and his flag: navă amiral “flagship”.^[2][12]
3. The red admiral, a large, brightly coloured butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) whose caterpillars live on nettles.^[3][7]

Word family

• amiralitate
• contraamiral
• viceamiral
• amiralat
• amiraleasă

Related words

• emir
• French amiral

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 55
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 37
4. ^ 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. amiral
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. amiral
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. amiral
7. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. amiral
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. amiral
9. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 96
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 38
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 79