clan

Forms

clan n (plural clanuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French clan.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Marcu names English clan beside French.^[6] French took the word in 1746 from English, at first for the clans of Scotland and Ireland.^[7] The English word comes from Scottish Gaelic clann (“offspring, race”), through Old Irish cland, ultimately from Latin planta (“shoot, offspring”), with Gaelic /k/ for Latin /p/.^[1][7] DELR and DA name the Gaelic source too.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is of 1870, in Heliade-Rădulescu's version of Fingal, for a group of families with a common ancestor under one chief.^[2] MDA2 gives no earlier record than DA.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word was introduced for the Celtic clans of Scotland and Ireland, as in French.^[2][7][8] DA notes that sociology had extended it to similar kin groups of other peoples, and by extension to any group or coterie.^[5] The dictionaries of the communist period define it as a community of the primitive commune bound by kinship and language.^[4][9] The pejorative sense “clique, faction” is recorded from CADE in 1931 on.^[8][4][10] Botany uses it for a small group of plants of one species growing on a small area.^[3][11]

Timeline

• 1870 – first record, in Heliade-Rădulescu's Fingal.^[2]
• 1940 – the Academy dictionary (DA), in its volume for C, records the sense “group, coterie”.^[5]
• 1931 – CADE gives “coterie” as the second sense.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A clan: a community of the earliest societies formed by people bound by kinship and language; a group of related families among the Scots and Irish.^[4][11][1]
2. (pejorative) A clique, a group of people united by shared interests.^[4][10]
3. (botany) A small group of plants of one species on a small area.^[3][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. clan
3. ^ 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, 428
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 193
5. ^ 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. clan
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. clan
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România