britanic

Forms

britanic m or n (feminine singular britanică, masculine plural britanici, feminine/neuter plural britanice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French britannique.^[2][3][4][1] The French word is a borrowing of 1512 from Latin britannicus, from Britannia, DELR adds from Britannus, the name of the Celtic people of Britain.^[5][2] DELR traces the name, probably, to a Celtic base meaning “form”, compare Welsh pryd and Ancient Greek Πρετανοί (Pretanoí).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the variant britanicesc in Teodorovici's Alexandru of 1815; the form britanic follows in 1829.^[2] DELR also lists the old variants bretanic and bretanicesc.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It names what belongs to Great Britain or its people, and as a noun a person from Great Britain; in a narrower use it means “English”, and the dictionaries of the 1950s defined it simply so.^[3][6][7] An older adjective, briticesc (1837), was modelled on German britisch.^[2] The noun britan, for the ancient Celtic people, is much older, from about 1660 in a chronograph, with a variant vretan from Greek.^[2]

Timeline

• 1815 – britanicesc in Teodorovici's Alexandru.^[2]
• 1829 – the form britanic.^[2]
• 1837 – briticesc, after German.^[2]
• 1886 – Barcianu's dictionary glosses it with German britisch.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person from Great Britain; in a narrower use an Englishman.^[3][9]

Adjective

1. British: belonging or relating to Great Britain or its people; more narrowly, English: Insulele Britanice “the British Isles”.^[3][7]

Related words

• French britannique

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. britanic
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 119
4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 246
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. britannique
6. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 93
7. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 277
8. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 66
9. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. britanic