ascultător

Forms

ascultător m or n (feminine singular ascultătoare, masculine plural ascultători, feminine/neuter plural ascultătoare)^[1] Dosoftei and Varlaam use ascultoi in the same sense: „Pre dzisa lui stătură ascultoi” “they obeyed his word”.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian asculta + -ător, from asculta “to listen; to obey”.^[3][4][5][6] The verb continues Latin ascultō, a form of auscultō (“to listen”).^[3] Wiktionary notes that it may correspond to Latin auscultātor (“listener; one who obeys”), which had both senses of the Romanian word.^[1][7] DELR marks an Aromanian form as well.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR, MDA2 and Tiktin date the first record to the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), in the sense “hearer”: „Fiți făcători cuvântul, nu numai ascultători” “be doers of the word, not hearers only” (James 1:22).^[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The DA describes it as the verbal adjective of asculta, often used as a noun; in the old language it could take an object in the accusative or the dative, but today it is used mostly on its own.^[6] The first sense, “one who hears”, came to mean the audience of a sermon or a story, as in Antim's address to his iubiții mei ascultători “my beloved listeners”, and a student who attends a course.^[6][8] Beside it, the sense “obedient” follows the verb's sense “to obey”, and Miron Costin uses the word for a village “belonging to” the district of Galați.^[6][2] Eminescu applies it to waves that carry a boat, ascultătoarele valuri.^[9] A feminine noun ascultătoare “place to listen from” is recorded in 1870.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – ascultători “hearers” in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[3][4]
• 1602–1613 – the variant ascultoi “obedient” in the Leastvița.^[3]
• first half of the 17th century – neascultător “disobedient” in the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab.^[3]
• 1688 – ascultători in the Bucharest Bible (James 1:22).^[10]
• 1705 – iubiții miei ascultători “my beloved listeners” in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[8]
• 1818 – the variant ascultăreț in Budai-Deleanu's lexicon.^[3]
• 1870 – ascultătoare “listening place” in Costinescu.^[3]
• 1978 – radioascultător “radio listener”.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. obedient, docile: who heeds advice or orders.^[5][4][1]
2. (obsolete) Under the authority or jurisdiction of someone, belonging to an administrative unit.^[4][11]

Noun

1. A listener: a person who listens to a story, a concert, a lecture or a broadcast; in the plural, the audience.^[5][4][1]
2. (dated) A student who attends a course, an auditor.^[11][6]

Word family

• neascultător
• radioascultător

Related words

• asculta
• ascultare
• Latin auscultātor

Usage notes

The opposite is neascultător “disobedient”.^[11][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ascultător
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. asculta
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 108
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 66
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. ascultător
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. ascultător
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 137
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. James 1:22
11. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ascultător