anonim

Forms

anonim m or n (feminine singular anonimă, masculine plural anonimi, feminine/neuter plural anonime)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French anonyme, together with Latin anōnymus: the DEX, the MDA2 and Marcu name both, and DELR takes the modern word from French, which had it from Latin.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἀνώνυμος (anṓnumos, “nameless”), formed with the privative prefix ἀν- (an-) and ὄνυμα (ónuma), the Aeolic form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).^[5][1] French took the word from Greek through Late Latin in 1540.^[6]

The early form ⟨anónim⟩, stressed on the second syllable, is the one Cantemir used;^[5] DELR's sources for it are Modern Greek ανώνυμος (anónimos) and the Latin of the time.^[5] Tiktin gives Greek and Latin as the sources.^[7] By surface analysis it is an- + -onim,^[1] and Scriban sets it beside pseudonim.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dimitrie Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1705), which speaks of „acestui înțelept și anonim sfeatnic” “this wise and nameless counsellor” and explains the word in its glossary of foreign terms as one whose name is not known.^[9][5][7][3]

Semantic evolution

After Cantemir the word comes back in the 19th century with the French loans: Negulici's dictionary of 1848 glosses it “without a name”.^[10] Negruzzi wrote of an anonymous author and Maiorescu of an unsigned article.^[9] The legal phrase societate anonimă, a company whose members are not named and answer only for the money they paid in, followed the French model.^[9][8] Used as a feminine noun, o anonimă is an unsigned letter.^[9][2] After French, Odobescu used anonimul for “anonymity”, a sense later taken by anonimat, which DELR dates to 1893.^[9][5] Marcu and the DEX add a figurative sense, “lacking personality, obscure”.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1705 – first record, in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[5][7]
• 1839 – the abstract noun anonimitate, now obsolete.^[5]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of new words.^[10]
• 1893 – anonimat “anonymity”, from French, in Hasdeu.^[5]
• 1934 – the verb anonimiza “to make anonymous”.^[5]
• 1947 – dezanonimiza “to make no longer anonymous”.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. anonymous: whose name is not known, or who hides their name: un donator anonim.^[2][3]
2. (of a text or work) Whose author is not known: o cronică anonimă.^[2][3]
3. (figurative) Remaining unknown; without personality, obscure.^[2][3]
4. societate anonimă (pe acțiuni): a joint-stock company.^[2][3]

Noun

1. A person whose name is unknown or who hides it.^[2][3]
2. (feminine) An unsigned letter.^[2][3]

Word family

• anonimat
• anonimitate
• anonimiza

Related words

• sinonim
• pseudonim

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 44
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 67
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. anonim
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. anonim
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. anonim
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 104
9. ^ a b c d e 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. anonim
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. 32