caritate

Forms

caritate f (uncountable)^[1] An old variant, pronounced in the Greek way, is haritate: „fapte de haritate” “works of charity” in the Uricariul.^[2][3] Another old variant, șaritate, follows the French form.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cāritās (“dearness, love”), a learned loan of the 19th century, as DELR, Ciorănescu and Tiktin have it.^[4][5][6] The DEX and Marcu give it two sources, borrowed from French charité and the Latin word.^[7][8] DELR derives only the variant șaritate from French, Wiktionary gives only French, and Marcu & Maneca compare Italian carità.^[4][1][9] Tiktin calls it a New Latin word, also taken over indirectly.^[6] The Latin noun is derived from cārus (“dear”).^[4][10] Its variant charitas was influenced by Ancient Greek χάρις (kháris).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1833, in the sense of the love of God and of one's neighbour.^[4][6] MDA2's first record, before 1857 in the Uricariul, is the variant haritate.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was the theological one, charity as one of the three Christian virtues.^[2][11] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains it as love of one's neighbour and religious compassion.^[12] Laurian and Massim also gave it the Latin sense “dearness, high price”.^[13] The phrase soră de caritate “sister of charity” first named Catholic nuns who nursed the sick and the poor, then a nurse.^[2][10] Dictionaries of the 1950s defined the word as the feigned mercy of the rich, who gave alms to look generous.^[14][9] The DEX now defines it as a merciful, generous attitude, philanthropy.^[7]

Timeline

• 1833 – the first record.^[4][6]
• 1848 – the adjective caritabil, after French charitable.^[4]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[12]
• before 1857 – fapte de haritate in the Uricariul.^[3][2]
• 1931 – necaritabil “uncharitable”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. charity: a merciful, generous attitude towards others; philanthropy.^[7][3][1]
2. (dated) In soră de caritate: a nurse.^[7][3]

Word family

• caritabil

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. caritate
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 300
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. caritate
5. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. caritate
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. caritate
7. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 147
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. caritate
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. caritate
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 233
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 106
12. ^ 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. caritate
13. ^ Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. caritate
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 339