ceremonie

Forms

ceremonie f (plural ceremonii)^[1] Older texts have țeremonie: Miron Costin writes „După această țeremonie au purces Vasilie Vodă den Țarigrad” “after this courtesy Prince Vasile left Constantinople”.^[2] DELR lists many other old variants, among them cerimonie, țărămonie, țerimonie, țârmonie and țirmonie.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Polish ceremonia, with French cérémonie and Latin caerimōnia as further sources: DEX gives all three together, and Wiktionary the same three as alternatives.^[4][1] DER derives it from the Latin word and the Italian cerimonia of the 17th century, partly through Polish; he rejects a Russian intermediary, proposed by Sanzewitsch and the DAR, because the Romanian word is older.^[5] DELR lists Hungarian ceremónia, Polish, Neo-Latin and French, and adds the Russian церемония (ceremonija), Italian and Modern Greek τσερεμονία (tseremonía) as further influences.^[3] MDA2 names Russian, Polish, Latin and French, and Tiktin derives it from Medieval Latin through several intermediaries.^[6][2]

The Latin word meant “sacredness, reverence” and, in the plural, “religious rites”.^[7][8] Its origin is uncertain: de Vaan derives it from an unattested adjective *caerus with the suffix of castimōnia, and the Roman link with the Etruscan town of Caere is a folk etymology.^[9] It has parallels in Aromanian țirimone and Bulgarian церемония (ceremonija).^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1648, in the form țeremonie.^[3][2] MDA2 cites the Moldavian chronicles in Kogălniceanu's edition.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word named the solemn outward forms of a religious rite and of any solemn occasion: a court festivity, a wedding, a funeral, a feast.^[11][6] Bălcescu describes a departure from Constantinople „cu ceremonie mare” “with great ceremony”.^[2] In the chronicles it also meant a formal courtesy, a mark of politeness, and in the plural it came to mean exaggerated politeness, airs.^[2][3][6] The phrases fără ceremonii “informally” and maestru de ceremonii “master of ceremonies” belong to this sense.^[6][4]

Romanian added the adjective ceremonios from French cérémonieux, recorded from 1787, and ceremonial, recorded as an adjective from 1813 and as a noun from 1829.^[3]

Timeline

• 1648 – țeremonie, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1787 – the adjective ceremonios.^[3]
• 1813 – the adjective ceremonial.^[3]
• 1829 – the noun ceremonial, the rules of etiquette of a ceremony.^[3]
• 1852 – the first volume of Kogălniceanu's edition of the chronicles, MDA2's first record.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. ceremony: the set of formal rules and protocol observed at solemn occasions; pomp, solemnity.^[4][6][1]
2. A solemn event or festivity, such as a wedding, baptism or funeral.^[6][12]
3. The forms of politeness used in social life; in the plural, exaggerated politeness: fără ceremonii “without fuss”.^[4][6]
4. The outward form of a religious cult; a church service.^[4]
5. maestru de ceremonii: a master of ceremonies.^[4][6]

Word family

• ceremonial
• ceremonios

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ceremonie
3. ^ 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. ceremonie
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 172
5. ^ a b 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. ceremonie
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 365
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. caerimōnia
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. cérémonie
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1042
11. ^ 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. ceremonie
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. ceremonie