celebru

Forms

celebru m or n (feminine singular celebră, masculine plural celebri, feminine/neuter plural celebre)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French célèbre and directly borrowed from Latin celeber (in the form celebris): DELR and DEX give both sources, MDA2, Tiktin and Scriban only the French.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} DN also compares Italian celebre.^[7] The DA calls it a neologism after the French.^[8]

The French adjective was borrowed in 1532 from the Latin one, which meant “numerous, crowded” and of a place “frequented”; through its use for well-attended feasts and the verb celebrō it came to mean “famous”.^[9] The Romanian verb celebra, recorded from 1794, is a separate loan from Latin and French.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1820, with the sense “famous”.^[2][5] MDA2 and the DA quote it first from Hasdeu's Istoria critică a românilor (1875): Celebrul Vlad-vodă, supranumit Dracul “the celebrated Prince Vlad, called Dracul”.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

Negulici (1848) glosses it with Latin celeber and Romanian renumit, faimos, for places, feasts, days, men and deeds.^[10] Laurian and Massim, following the Latin, gave it also the senses “numerous, crowded” and “much visited”, which did not survive.^[11] Costinescu (1870) ranks it below ilustru and above faimos.^[12]

The noun celebritate, recorded from 1835, took over “fame” and “famous person”.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1820 – first record of celebru.^[2][5]
• 1835 – the noun celebritate.^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of new words.^[10]
• 1875 – celebrul Vlad-vodă in Hasdeu.^[4][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. famous, celebrated, illustrious: known everywhere for its qualities; renumit, vestit.^[3][4][1]
2. Of places and things: widely known, faimos.^[13]

Word family

• celebritate

Related words

• celebra
• celebrant

Usage notes

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 distinguished it as saying less than ilustru and being nobler than faimos.^[12][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. celebru
3. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 168
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, 355
5. ^ 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. celebru
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 256
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. celebru
8. ^ 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. celebru
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. celebru
11. ^ Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. celebru
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 174
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 385