autopsie

Forms

autopsie f (plural autopsii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French autopsie.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} MDA2 also names Latin and Italian autopsia as sources, and Marcu and Maneca the Italian word beside the French one.^[4][6] The French word is from Ancient Greek αὐτοψία (autopsía, “seeing with one's own eyes”), from αὐτόπτης (autóptēs, “eyewitness”), made of αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) and the stem of ὄψομαι (ópsomai, “I shall see”).^[2] French borrowed it in 1573, and the medical sense “examination of a corpse” was first French, unknown to Greek.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in C. Negruzzi in 1829, already in the medical sense: „Am cerut să-i fac autopsie, dar n-au vrut rudele nicidecum” “I asked to perform an autopsy on him, but the relatives would not have it at all”.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 gives first the Greek sense, an intuitive vision of mysteries, contemplation of the deity, seeing a thing with one's own eyes, and then the medical one, the opening of a corpse to learn the cause of death.^[9] MDA2 keeps the older senses, a state of self-contemplation and, in philosophy, mystical contemplation of God, as obsolete.^[4] The medical sense is the living one,^[3] and it gave the figurative “close examination”, already in Scriban and Șăineanu.^[10][11] CADE gives a familiar sense, a close examination of one's own states of mind.^[12] The verb autopsia “to perform an autopsy”, from French autopsier, is recorded from 1904.^[2]

Timeline

• 1829 – autopsie in the medical sense in C. Negruzzi, the first record.^[5][2]
• 1848 – Negulici defines both the contemplative and the medical sense.^[9]
• 1872 – the first record MDA2 gives, in the edition of Negruzzi's works.^[4]
• 1904 – the verb autopsia in Babeș.^[2]
• 1929 – autopsier “specialist in autopsies”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The dissection of a corpse and anatomical examination of its internal organs to find the cause of death: necropsie.^[3][2]
2. (figurative) A close, thorough examination of something.^[4][10]
3. (obsolete, philosophy) A state of mystical contemplation of God, in which the mind loses its individuality.^[4][2]

Word family

• autopsia

Related words

• necropsie

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. autopsie
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 78
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, 140
5. ^ 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. autopsíe
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 139
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 45
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. autopsie