capital

Forms

capital n (plural capitaluri)^[1] Adjective: capital (masculine and neuter), capitală (feminine), plural capitali (masculine), capitale (feminine and neuter).^[1][2] The noun's plural is capitaluri, rarely capitale;^[3] MDA2 also records a variant căpital.^[4]

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from French capital, with Kapital as a second model.^[2][5][6][3] Both go back to Italian capitale and Medieval Latin capitale (“the principal of a debt, without the interest”), from Latin capitālis (“principal”), a derivative of caput (“head”).^[5][7] Kluge explains that the word first meant the head count of a herd, as opposed to the young born to it, which were the interest.^[7]

The adjective too is from the French word;^[8][9] DELR puts first the Latin adjective, taken into the Latin of the neologisms.^{[10][2][8][9]} The French adjective was borrowed from Latin around 1200.^[11] The noun and the adjective share the same French and Latin origin.^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the noun “wealth, money invested in a business” to 1759 and the adjective “of first importance;^[10] (of a punishment) by death” to 1778;^[10] Tiktin has a record of the adjective from 1766, in Iorga's documents.^[5][10][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first applied to what concerns the head and so life: pedeapsă capitală “capital punishment”, quoted by DA from Alexandrescu.^[12][4] From “at the head of things” it came to mean “chief, essential” and, in printing, “capital letter”.^[12][10] As a feminine noun, capitală “capital city” is recorded from 1801–1802, after French ville capitale, with the old variants capitalie and neuter capital.^[10][12]

The noun first meant a sum of money as opposed to the interest it earns, and the funds of a business.^[12][13] The dictionaries of the 1950s defined it in Marxist terms, as value that produces surplus value.^[14][15] Figuratively one speaks of capital de cunoștințe “stock of knowledge”, and now also of capital uman “human capital”.^[2][6] In Muntenia the phrase a prinde de capital means “to take seriously”, matching the standard a o lua de capital.^[16][2]

Timeline

• 1759 – the noun “capital, money invested”, the first record.^[5]
• 1766 – the adjective, in a document published by Iorga.^[6]
• 1778 – the adjective “principal; by death”.^[10]
• 1801–1802 – capitală “capital city”.^[10]
• 1822 – capitalist.^[5]
• 1825 – capitalu in the Lexicon de la Buda, with Hungarian tőkepénz and German Stammgeld.^[17]
• 1840 – capitaliza “to accumulate capital” and the diminutive capitălaș.^[5]
• 1914 – capitalism.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (economics) The economic goods held by a person or a group and used to produce goods and services for sale and profit; money invested in a business.^[2][18]
2. In set phrases: capital uman “human capital”, the skills and abilities of employees;^[19] capital de cunoștințe “stock of knowledge”.^[2]

Adjective

1. Of first importance; fundamental, essential: o problemă capitală, reparație capitală “overhaul”.^[2] In the phrase a o lua de capital, to take something too seriously.^[2][4]
2. (of type) Larger than ordinary letters and usually of a different shape;^[19] (of letters) uppercase; also as a feminine noun, a capital letter.^[2]
3. In pedeapsă capitală “capital punishment”, the death penalty.^[2][12]

Word family

• anticapitalist
• capitalism
• capitaliza
• capitalizabil
• capitălaș
• decapitaliza
• capitală
• capităluță
• capitalist

Usage notes

DEX treats the noun (capital¹) and the adjective (capital²) as separate headwords; they share one origin.^[2][5][10]

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 DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 141
3. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. capital
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 290
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. capital¹
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. capital
7. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 472
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. capital
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 227
10. ^ 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. capital²
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b c d e 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. capital
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 101
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 330
15. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 114
16. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 67
17. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 95
18. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 134
19. ^ 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, 502