capabil

Forms

capabil m or n (feminine singular capabilă, masculine plural capabili, feminine/neuter plural capabile)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French capable, the source DELR gives after the DA, CADE, DEX and Tiktin, and a learned borrowed from Latin capābilis (“able to hold or receive”), which DEX, MDA2 and MDN name beside it.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin adds borrowed from Italian capabile.^[6] Wiktionary also gives French and Latin.^[1]

The Latin adjective is Late Latin, formed on capiō (“to take, hold”) with the suffix -ābilis.^[7][1] French borrowed it from Christian Latin, as capavle about 1350.^[8] Graur lists the Romanian word among the neologisms of the family of the same Latin verb.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1838, with the sense “able, in a position to”.^[2][6] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 enters it as capabbil beside capace, glossed “having the qualities needed to do something”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The 19th-century dictionaries glossed the word with native ones: vrednic, destoinic, priceput.^[11] Used alone, without de, it came to mean “gifted, competent”: un om capabil.^[12] The legal sense “having legal capacity” appears in the Civil Code.^[12][4] Scriban also gives the literal sense “able to hold”.^[13]

DELR dates incapabil, a loan of French incapable, to 1865, and the noun capabilitate to 1928.^[2] Barcianu's dictionary already has capabilitate in 1886.^[14]

Timeline

• 1838 – the first record.^[2][6]
• 1848 – capabbil in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1865 – incapabil.^[2]
• 1886 – capabilitate in Barcianu's dictionary.^[14]
• 1897 – the legal sense, in Hamangiu's edition of the Civil Code.^[4][12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (followed by de or să) Able to do something, in a position to; capable, apt: e capabil de orice “he is capable of anything”.^[3][4]
2. Gifted, competent, destoinic.^[3][5]
3. (law) Having legal capacity.^[5][12]

Word family

• capabilitate

Related words

• incapabil
• capacitate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. capabil
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 141
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, 289
5. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. capabil
6. ^ 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. capabil
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 25
10. ^ 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. capabil
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 152
12. ^ 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. capabil
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 226
14. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 82