capitală

Forms

capitală f (plural capitale)^[1] An old variant capitalie occurs in Kogălniceanu and Russo.^[2][3] A neuter capital was also used in this sense, as in a text by Văcărescu that Tiktin quotes: „Sofia capitalul Bulgariei” “Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria”.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French capitale, short for the phrase ville capitale (“capital city”).^{[3][6][7][4][1]} Marcu and Maneca also name Italian capitale as a model.^[7] DELR places the noun in the family of the adjective capital “of first importance”, which it takes from French capital and Latin capitālis (“principal”), a derivative of caput (“head”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1787.^[4] DELR's first record, of 1801–1802, has the sense “city of residence”, the seat of a country's government.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the city where the ruler and the supreme organs of a state reside, and was then also used for the chief town of an administrative unit, as in capitală de județ “county town”.^[4][3][6] Following the adjective, it can also mean a capital letter, literă capitală.^[4][7]

Romanian formed a diminutive capităluță for a smaller capital letter (1914), and Eminescu used decapitaliza “to move a state's capital” (1881), after French décapitaliser.^[5] A noun capitalist “inhabitant of the capital”, used ironically, is recorded in the press of 2005;^[8] Dimitrescu notes that it is much older and occurs in Caragiale.^[8]

Timeline

• 1787 – the first record.^[4]
• 1801–1802 – capitală “city of residence”.^[5]
• 1881 – decapitaliza “to move the capital” in Eminescu.^[5]
• 1914 – the diminutive capităluță “small capital letter”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A capital city: the city where the supreme organs of state power have their seat: Delegația a ajuns ieri în capitală.^[3][9][1]
2. The chief town of an administrative unit, where its governing bodies have their seat.^[3][9]
3. A capital letter, a majuscule.^[7][4]

Word family

• capităluță

Related words

• capital
• cap
• French capitale

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 330
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 141
4. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. capitală
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. capital
6. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 114
7. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
9. ^ 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, 290