comentariu

Forms

comentariu n (plural comentarii)^[1] Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints has comentarie (feminine): „Comentărie de svântul apostol Andrei” “commentary on Saint Andrew the Apostle”.^[2][3][4] A variant comentar (plural comentare) was used in the 19th century: Hasdeu wrote of „comentare mari și mici” “great and small commentaries”.^[2][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin commentārium (“notebook, commentary”), a learned loan, and later also borrowed from French commentaire.^[3][6][7][4] The dictionaries give the sources in different orders: Wiktionary and the DLRM name only French, Tiktin a Latin word that came through several languages, and MDA2 also lists Italian commentario, German Kommentar and Russian.^[1][8][4][9] The DA thinks the Latin word came first through Russian and in modern times through French.^[2]

The Latin noun is formed on commentus, the past participle of comminīscor (“to call to mind, to devise”), a verb related to mēns (“mind”).^[10][11][5] The French word comes from Middle French commentaire and the Latin noun.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is comentarie in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints (1682), with the sense “an explanation of a text”.^[3][9] Tiktin dates the same record to 1683.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a learned one: an explanation of a literary, historical or legal work, often in marginal notes.^[9][2] In the 19th century it also became a critical opinion on a problem or an event, and with a pejorative turn a malicious interpretation of someone's words or deeds: fără comentarii “no comments”.^[6][12][5] In the press it names an article of this kind, and in computing an explanatory text in a program that does not affect it.^[9][13] In the plural it names historical memoirs, after Comentariile lui Cezar “Caesar's Commentaries”.^[5][13]

Timeline

• 1682 – comentarie in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints.^[3][9]
• 1717–1723 – the related comentator in Cantemir's Hronic.^[3]
• 1870 – comentariŭ with French commentaire in Costinescu's dictionary.^[14]
• 1904 – comentativ “containing comments”.^[3]
• 1960 – microcomentariu “a short comment”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A critical assessment or opinion on a problem or an event; a press article giving such an opinion.^[6][9]
2. (pejorative) A malicious interpretation of someone's words or deeds.^[12][15]
3. An explanation or interpretation of a literary, historical or legal work, often in marginal notes; a commentary.^[6][9]
4. (computing) An explanatory text in a program that does not affect how it runs.^[13]

Word family

• microcomentariu

Related words

• comenta
• comentator
• comentativ

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. comentariu
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. comentariu
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. comentariu
5. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 321
6. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 210
7. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
9. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 469
10. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
11. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
13. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
14. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 218
15. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România