calitate

Forms

calitate f (plural calități)^[1] The older spellings were cualitate and cvalitate;^[2][3] Macarie's grammar of about 1772 has cualitate.^[2][3] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 enters it in the Latinist spelling qualitate, with the plural qualitàți.^[4]

Etymology

It is a neologism borrowed from Latin quālitās (“quality”), and also borrowed from French qualité;^{[2][3][5][6][7]} DELR, MDA2, DEX and the neologism dictionaries name both sources, Tiktin too.^{[2][3][5][6][7]} DA and DLRM put French first and Latin in brackets, Wiktionary gives French alone, while Pontbriant, Scriban and CADE name only Latin.^{[8][9][1][10][11][12]} The old spellings with ⟨cu⟩ and ⟨cv⟩ keep the Latin /kw/.^[2]

The Latin word is formed from quālis (“of what kind”) with -tās;^[2][13][14] Cicero coined it to render Ancient Greek ποιότης (poiótēs).^[2][13][14] The French word was borrowed from it about 1119.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is cualitate in Macarie's grammar of about 1772, with the sense “property, characteristic”;^[2][7] Tiktin's is from 1787.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The neutral sense “property, way of being, good or bad” came first; from it grew the positive sense “a good quality, merit” (are mari calități “he has great qualities”) and the sense “position or title that gives a right”, as in în calitate de director “as director”.^[8][5] Negulici (1848) defines it as what makes a thing be of one kind or another, its goodness or badness.^[16] In the 19th and early 20th centuries it also meant noble rank: persoană de calitate “a person of quality”.^[17][12] Philosophy uses it for the totality of the essential properties that make a thing what it is, and chess for the difference in value between a rook and a bishop or knight.^[5][3] The adjective calitativ is recorded from 1838.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1772 – cualitate in Macarie's grammar, the first record.^[2]
• 1787 – the next record cited by Tiktin.^[7]
• 1838 – the adjective calitativ (also cvalitativ).^[2]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[16]
• 1870 – qualitate in Costinescu's dictionary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (philosophy) The totality of the essential properties by which a thing is what it is and differs from others.^[5][3]
2. A property, good or bad; a way of being; in a narrower sense a positive trait, a merit;^[5][1] de calitate “of good quality, valuable”.^[5][1]
3. A position, status or title that confers a right;^[5][18] în calitate de “as, in the capacity of”: A semnat în calitate de martor. “He signed as a witness.”^[5][18]
4. (chess) The difference in value between a rook and a bishop or knight.^[5][6]

Word family

• calitativ

Related words

• cantitate
• Latin quālitās
• French qualité

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. calitate
3. ^ 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, 280
4. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 389
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 135
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. calitate
7. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. calitate
8. ^ a b 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. calitate
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 109
10. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 100
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 220
12. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. calitate
13. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. quālitās
14. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. quālitas
15. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. qualité
16. ^ 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, p. s.v. calitate
17. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 94
18. ^ a b Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. 2, s.v. calitate