circumstanță

Forms

circumstanță f (plural circumstanțe)^[1] Older forms were circonstanță and țircumstanție.^[2][3] Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică has „aceale țircumstanții” “those circumstances”.^[4] There was also a native-looking circumstare, from 1805, with the variants cercumstare and cercustare.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin circumstantia (“a standing round; situation”) as a learned word, also borrowed from French circonstance.^[2][5][3] Tiktin, the DA, Scriban and DEX name the Latin word; the DA and DEX also the French.^[2][6] The variants with initial ⟨ț⟩ reflect the pronunciation of Latin in Central Europe.^[2][4] The Latin noun is formed on circumstō (“to stand round, surround”), from circum (“around”) and stō (“to stand”).^[2][7] Graur lists it among the Romanian words from the family of the same Latin verb, with sta.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1656, in the form țircumstanție.^[2] Tiktin has circumstanță in a text of Dosoftei of 1681, and MDA2 dates it to Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică of 1704.^[6][3] The sense was the state of things surrounding an event.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, a circumstance attending a fact, has been joined by the legal circumstanțe atenuante “mitigating circumstances” and agravante “aggravating”, which Tiktin calls the main use.^[6][5] De circumstanță came to mean “made for the occasion”, and so “for show”.^[9][10] The adjective circumstanțial is recorded from 1848.^[2]

Timeline

• 1656 – țircumstanție, the first record.^[2]
• 1681 – circumstanță in Dosoftei.^[6]
• 1704 – țircumstanții in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[3][4]
• 1805 – the variant circumstare.^[2]
• 1848 – the adjective circumstanțial.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A circumstance: a particular condition that goes with an event, a fact or an action; in the plural, the conditions as a whole;^[5][3] de circumstanță means made for a given occasion, not valid in general.^[5][3]
2. (law, plural) Facts about an offence or the offender that raise or lower the penalty: circumstanțe atenuante “mitigating circumstances”, circumstanțe agravante “aggravating circumstances”.^[5][3]
3. An occasion or conjuncture, favourable or not: măsuri de circumstanță “emergency measures”.^[9][3]

Word family

• circumstanțial
• circumstare

Related words

• Latin circumstantia

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. circumstanță
3. ^ 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, 413
4. ^ a b c d 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. circumstanță
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 188
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. circumstanță
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. circumstantia
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 95
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. circumstanță
10. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. circumstanță