azil

Forms

azil n (plural aziluri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French asile, also borrowed from Latin asylum, a learned loan of the modern period.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu names only the French word.^[5] The Latin word is a noun from Greek: Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon), the neuter of the adjective ἄσυλος (ásulos, “inviolable, not to be plundered”), formed from the privative ἀ- (a-) and συλάω (suláō, “to strip a defeated enemy of his arms; to plunder”).^[2][6]

An older variant stressed on the first syllable, ásil, came separately from Modern Greek άσυλο (ásylo).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the word to 1680, in Dosoftei's Liturghier.^[4] DELR's first record is of 1794: the Greek-stressed form ásil in Văcărescu's history.^[2] In 1848 Negulici defined asil as a place of escape and of salvation, with Latin asylus beside it.^[7]

Semantic evolution

MDA2 puts first the ancient sense, an inviolable place where the condemned found escape, and then the wider senses of a place of escape, of safety and a refuge.^[8] The figurative refuge was common in 19th-century writing: Șăineanu quotes a line calling the Romanian mountains a precious azil of freedom.^[9]

Later in the century the word also named a charitable institution that housed orphans, the old and the infirm.^[8][4] Tiktin and Scriban cite the Azilul Elena Doamna, an orphanage for girls in Bucharest founded by Princess Elena Cuza.^[4][10] CADE also records a rare sense, a person who protects someone, which MDA2 marks as obsolete.^[11][8] The legal phrases drept de azil “right of asylum” and azil politic “political asylum” are the main uses of the word today.^[8][3]

Timeline

• 1680 – the first record, in Dosoftei's Liturghier.^[4]
• 1794 – the variant ásil in Văcărescu's history.^[2]
• 1848 – asil “place of escape” in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[7]
• 1989 – azilant “person granted political asylum”, borrowed from German Asylant, in Paul Goma's journal.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A place where someone finds protection, shelter or refuge;^[3][8] drept de azil “the right of a political refugee to settle in another country”.^[3][8]
2. azil politic: political asylum, the right to enter and settle that a state grants to a foreigner persecuted at home for political reasons.^[8][12]
3. (dated) A charitable or social-assistance institution that houses and keeps the old, the infirm or orphans: un azil de bătrâni “an old people's home”.^[3][4]
4. (obsolete) A person who protects someone.^[8][11]

Word family

• azilant

Related words

• French asile
• Latin asylum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. azil
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 82
4. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. azil
5. ^ 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. azil
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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, 150
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 47
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 142
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. azil
12. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. azil