bandit

Forms

bandit m (plural bandiți)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French bandit and directly borrowed from Italian bandito, as DELR, DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries give it.^[2][3][4][5] Ciorănescu, Tiktin and the DA name Italian alone, the DLRM and Wiktionary French alone, and DEXI adds German as a third source.^{[6][7][8][9][1][10]} Ciorănescu notes that French had the word from Italian.^[6] French borrowed it as bandi in 1621 and in its present form in 1663; the Italian word means “banished, outlaw” and is the past participle of bandire (“to proclaim; to banish”).^[11][12] The DHLF and Nocentini trace that verb to a Gothic word meaning “to give a sign”, with the sense “to banish” from Frankish and Gallo-Romance influence.^[11][13] Scriban instead derived the Italian word from banda (“band, troop”).^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1834, in the sense “member of a gang of criminals, dangerous robber”.^[2][7] MDA2's first record is much later, from Călinescu's Enigma Otiliei.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Costinescu in 1870 explains it with native words for “robber, evildoer, thief”, and the DA with “highwayman”, comparing lotru and haiduc.^[15][8] The DA glosses the Italian source as a man “put outside the law”.^[8] Șăineanu adds a figurative sense, a good-for-nothing.^[16] In familiar speech it became a term of abuse, “rascal, scoundrel”.^[4][10] Before 1989 the Securitate used it as a name for political prisoners.^[17] The derivatives are banditism (1880, from French), banditesc (1900) and banditește (1910).^[2]

Timeline

• 1834 – first record.^[2][7]
• 1870 – Costinescu: “robber, thief, evildoer”.^[15]
• 1880 – banditism “banditry”, in Eminescu, from French.^[2]
• 1900 – banditesc “of a bandit”, in Caragiale.^[2]
• 1910 – banditește “like a bandit”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A member of a gang of criminals; a robber, gangster;^[3][10][1] bandit de drumul mare “highwayman”.^[3][10][1]
2. By extension, a person who commits a serious crime.^[10]
3. (colloquial) A scoundrel, a rascal: Banditul ăsta mic mi-a mâncat toată ciocolata!^[4][18]

Word family

• banditesc
• banditism

Related words

• bandă

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. bandit
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 88
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 163
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. bandit
6. ^ a b 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. bandit
7. ^ 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. bandit
8. ^ a b c 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. bandit
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 67
10. ^ a b c d e Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. bandit
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 149
15. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 98
16. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 53
17. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. bandit
18. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. bandit