cetățean

Forms

cetățean m (plural cetățeni, feminine equivalent cetățeană)^[1] The regional variant is cetățan; old plurals are cetățeani and cetățeane.^[2] The feminine is cetățeană, with the older cetățeancă (plural cetățence).^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian cetate + -ean, “dweller of a fortified town”.^{[5][2][6][7][3]} The political sense “citizen of a state” was taken from French citoyen, and the old sense “civil” follows Latin cīvīlis and civil.^[5][8]

The base noun is inherited from Latin cīvitās (“citizenship, state, city”) (accusative cīvitātem), itself from cīvis (“citizen”).^[5][7] Cihac compared the Romance formations Italian cittadino, Spanish ciudadano and French citadin.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Codicele Voronețean, c. 1563–1583, at Acts 21:39, where cetățeanu means a dweller of a city.^[2][5][8][3] In the same verse the New Testament of 1648 has pârgar and the Bible of 1688 orășan.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word meant the inhabitants of a fortress or fortified town, who had to defend it, as in the chronicles' “the townsmen defended themselves”, and townsmen in general, against nobles or peasants.^[3][2] Coresi already used it for “inhabitant” in a wider sense: „ai cerului cetățeani” “the citizens of heaven”.^[3] The adjective cetățenesc is recorded from 1691–1697.^[5]

The modern political sense, a person with civil and political rights in a state, came after French citoyen;^[8][5] Tiktin marks it as a sense of the modern language.^[8][5] Two derivatives followed it: cetățenie “citizenship” in 1871, after French citoyenneté, and cetățenime “the citizenry” in 1840.^[5] In the vocative cetățene! became a form of official address to a stranger.^[6][10]

Timeline

• c. 1563-1583 – cetățeanu in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[2][5]
• 1660 – cetățean for Slavonic graždaninŭ “citizen” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible (Proverbs 24:28).^[12]
• 1691-1697 – the adjective cetățenesc.^[5]
• 1840 – cetățenime “the citizenry”.^[5]
• 1871 – cetățenie “citizenship”, after French citoyenneté.^[5]
• 1928 – the feminine cetățeancă.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A citizen: a person who belongs to a state, with civil and political rights and duties towards it.^[6][2][1]
2. (vocative) A form of official address; used to address a person whose name one does not know: Cetățene, aici nu se fumează! “Citizen, no smoking here!”^[6][10]
3. (historical) An inhabitant of a fortress or fortified town, bound to defend it; a townsman, burgher.^[2][3]

Adjective

1. (dated) Of a town or of its citizens; cetățenesc.^[2][3]

Word family

• cetățenesc
• cetățenie
• cetățenime
• cetățeancă
• concetățean

Related words

• cetate
• încetățeni

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 367
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. cetățean
4. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 262
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. cetate
6. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 174
7. ^ 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. cetate
8. ^ 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. cetățean
9. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 52
10. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 398
11. ^ 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. cetățean
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Prov 24:28