autograf

Forms

autograf (feminine singular autografă, masculine plural autografi, feminine and neuter plural autografe), adjective; as a noun neuter, plural autografe.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French autographe.^[1][2][3][4] DELR also gives it as borrowed from German Autograph.^[5] Both go back to Latin autographus, from Ancient Greek αὐτόγραφος (autógraphos, “written with one's own hand”), formed αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) and γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).^[5][4] Negulici in 1848 gave the Latin word as its model, and Scriban the Greek.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1813, as an adjective: a signature or text written in the author's own hand.^[5][8] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 has it as an adjective and a noun.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The noun names a document written by its author's hand, then by extension a work by a given author, and colloquially a signature given to an admirer.^[2] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries autograf also named a copying device that reproduced handwriting;^[9][7][8] Tiktin marks this sense obsolete.^[9][7][8] The family came from French: autografic (1832), autografie, a process for copying a text or drawing on a lithographic stone (1840), and autografia (1906).^[5]

Timeline

• 1813 – the first record, as an adjective.^[5][8]
• 1832 – autografic.^[5]
• 1840 – autografie, a copying process.^[5]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[6]
• 1894 – a document in the author's hand, in Vlahuță's novel Dan.^[2]
• 1909 – autogramă “autograph letter or signature”, from German.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of a text, document or signature) Written in the author's own hand.^[1][2]

Noun

1. A text or document written by its author's own hand; an autograph.^[1][2]
2. (by extension) A work written by a particular author.^[2]
3. (colloquial) A signature, especially one given to admirers: a da autografe “to sign autographs”.^[2]
4. (obsolete) A device that reproduces handwriting exactly.^[7][8]

Word family

• autografia
• autografic
• autografie
• teleautograf

Related words

• Ancient Greek αὐτόγραφος (autógraphos)

Usage notes

A separate autograf, recorded from 1978, is a photogrammetric instrument for measuring objects from photographs taken on the ground.^[2][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 77
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 137
3. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. autograf
4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. autograf
6. ^ a b c 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. s.v. autograf
7. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 139
8. ^ 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. autograf
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 45
10. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. autograf