cercetător

Forms

cercetător m (plural cercetători, feminine equivalent cercetătoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian cerceta + -ător, the verb “to search, to examine” with the agent suffix.^[2][3][4][1] The verb continues Latin circitō (“to go around, patrol”), an iterative of circō (“to go round”) that only Romanian kept.^[5] DELR explains the modern sense “scientist” as modelled on French chercheur and German Forscher.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), in Acts 20:28, where the elders are set as cercetători “overseers” to tend the church: „Sfântu puse-vă cercetători a paște beseareca Domnului” “the Holy Spirit made you overseers to feed the church of the Lord”.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In the old language a cercetător was one who visits, inspects or oversees: a scout, a visitor, an examiner, a customs controller, and in church texts a pastor or bishop.^[4][3] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons use it for Slavonic words for “visitor” and “punisher”, and Mardarie's lexicon of 1649 glosses “archbishop” with it.^[6] Further old senses followed those of the verb: one who helps, pities or takes care of others, one who tempts, rewards or punishes.^[3] The sense “researcher, scientist” is modern and became the main one, with the official title cercetător științific “scientific researcher” in research institutes.^[5][2] Scriban preferred it to cercetaș for a military scout.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1563-1583 – cercetători “overseers” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[5][4]
• 1648 – in a New Testament, the first record MDA2 gives.^[3]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[8]
• 1688 – cercetători in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]
• 1939 – the derivative cercetătorie “the occupation of a researcher”.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Searching, inquisitive; that examines closely: o privire cercetătoare “a searching look”.^[2][10]

Noun

1. A researcher, a person working in scientific or technical research; a scientist.^[2]
2. cercetător științific: a research post in scientific institutes and laboratories, and a person holding it.^[2][3]
3. (dated) An inspector, examiner or visitor; in church texts, a pastor or bishop.^[3][4]

Word family

• cercetătoare
• cercetătorie

Related words

• cerceta
• cercetare
• cercetaș

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 172
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 363
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cercetător
5. ^ 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. cerceta
6. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. cercetător
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 260
8. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. cercetătorilor
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Baruch 3:23
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. cercetător