autor

Forms

autor m (plural autori, feminine equivalent autoare)^[1] Cantemir's Hronic (1717–1723) has the form avtor: „latini câțiva avtori” “some Latin authors”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin auctor, with its later spelling autor, also borrowed from French auteur.^[4][5][1] The sources weigh the two differently: Ciorănescu, Tiktin, the DA and MDA2 give the Latin word alone, Scriban and the DLRM put French first.^{[6][7][2][3][8][9]} NODEX also names Italian autore.^[10] The Latin word is formed from augeō (“to increase”) with the agent suffix -tor, and its first sense, “one who makes something grow”, is rarely recorded, giving “backer, guarantor, one who gives authority” and then “source, writer, author, maker”.^[4][11] The spelling without ⟨c⟩ is a late Latin variant, under the influence of Italian forms.^[1]

The old variants ⟨aftor⟩ and ⟨avtor⟩ follow the pronunciation of Greek loans such as avtocrator, and perhaps Russian автор (avtor) as well;^[4][2] ⟨autore⟩ is from the Italian word.^[4][2] Scriban derived ⟨aftor⟩ from the Russian word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Teodor Corbea's Latin–Romanian dictionary (1691–1697).^[4] Cantemir's Hronic (1717–1723) speaks of “some Latin authors”, writers whose views he quotes.^[2][3] Tiktin's first record is of 1703.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Old senses that MDA2 records are “first cause of something”, “creator”, figuratively God the Father, and in law the common ancestor of a family.^[3] Costinescu's dictionary (1870) gives autorii zilelor noastre “the authors of our days”, i.e. our parents, after the French phrase.^[12] A legal sense taken from French, “the one from whom a right or property comes”, appears in Hamangiu's civil code.^[2]

The sense “writer of a book” is the main one: a Moldavian law of 1817 on agreements between authors and printers defines the author as “the one who has composed some book”.^[2] The DA records autor also for a writer's works (autori clasici) and for the maker of a crime, the one who commits it.^[2][5] The feminine autoare is recorded from 1864 and coautor from 1876.^[4] Recent press compounds include autor-cult “cult author”, after English cult author.^[13]

Timeline

• 1691–1697 – first record, in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[4]
• 1717–1723 – avtor “author” in Cantemir's Hronic.^[2][3]
• 1817 – “the one who has composed a book”, in a Moldavian law on printing.^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary: first cause, inventor, writer.^[14]
• 1859–1869 – the diminutive autoraș in Heliade-Rădulescu.^[4]
• 1864 – the feminine autoare in Bolintineanu.^[4]
• 1876 – coautor in Maiorescu, from French coauteur.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An author: a person who creates a literary, artistic, scientific or journalistic work; specifically, a writer.^[5][3]
2. A person who makes, produces or does something; an inventor: autorul invenției.^[5][10]
3. (law) The perpetrator of an offence: autorul crimei.^[5][10]
4. (dated) The first cause or originator of something; in law, a common ancestor.^[3]

Word family

• autoraș
• coautor
• autoare

Related words

• autoritate
• augmenta
• Latin auctor

Usage notes

The feminine is autoare, plural autoare.^[5] Drepturi de autor are royalties, the money owed to the creator of a work.^[3] The colloquial phrase după unii autori means “according to some”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. autor
3. ^ 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, 140
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. autor
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 78
6. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. autor
7. ^ 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. autór
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 139
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 56
10. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. autor
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. auctor
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 86
13. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. autór
14. ^ 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. autor