candidat

Forms

candidat m (plural candidați, feminine equivalent candidată)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned loan, borrowed from Latin candidātus, with the German Kandidat and the French candidat as further models.^[2][3] DEX and MDA2 name French and Latin, Wiktionary French alone.^[4][5][1]

The Latin adjective meant “dressed in white” and is from Latin candidus (“white, shining”) with the suffix -ātus.^[6][2] As a noun it named a person standing for office, because candidates in Rome wore a whitened toga when they came before the voters.^[7][2][8] DA compares candid and candoare, from the same Latin family.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1781, and Tiktin has a record of 1810 in a document published by Iorga.^[2][3] The sense was the one it has today, a person who competes for an office or a dignity.^[2][3] Tiktin also records the old use for a court assessor, quoting Alecsandri: „Doar nu-s candidat de giudecătorie fără să știu pravilele” “I am surely not a court assessor without knowing the law codes”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word spread from public offices to examinations and prizes, and familiarly to someone about to get something: DA cites candidat la însurătoare “a candidate for marriage” and candidat la mizerie “headed for poverty”.^[7] Transylvanian sources of the Habsburg period used other forms of the same family: candidăli “to stand for office” from Hungarian kandidál, recorded in 1782, and candidație “candidature” in 1837.^[2]

In the Communist period it named a probationary member of the party and, after the Soviet model, the academic title candidat în științe “candidate of sciences”.^[9][10] Forestry uses it for a good tree left standing after a stand is thinned.^[10] Recent press coinages include eurocandidat (1997) and candidat-locomotivă, the well-known name at the head of a party list (2008).^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1781 – the first record.^[2]
• 1782 – candidăli “to stand for office”, from Hungarian, in Transylvania.^[2]
• 1810 – candidat in a document published by Iorga.^[3]
• 1837 – candidație “candidature” in Transylvania.^[2]
• 1847 – candidatură, from French.^[2]
• 1871 – the feminine candidată.^[2]
• 1899 – contracandidat “rival candidate”, after German Gegenkandidat.^[2]
• 1913 – the verb candida, a back-formation.^[2]
• 1997 – eurocandidat.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A candidate: a person who stands, or is put forward, for election to an office or a body.^{[4][5][10][1]}
2. A person who sits an examination or competes for a post or a prize.^[7][10]
3. (forestry) A good tree left in a stand after thinning.^[10][12]

Word family

• candida
• contracandidat
• eurocandidat

Related words

• candidatură
• candid
• candoare
• Latin candidātus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. candidat
3. ^ 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. candidat
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 139
5. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 285
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d 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. candidat
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 224
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 111
10. ^ a b c d e Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. candidat
11. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. candidat
12. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. candidat