comercial

Forms

comercial m or n (feminine singular comercială, masculine plural comerciali, feminine/neuter plural comerciale)^[1] An older form was comerțial, with the ț of comerț.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin commerciālis and French commercial: DELR, DEX, MDA2 and Marcu name both.^[2][5][3][6] Tiktin gives only the Latin word, Ciorănescu only the French one, and Scriban the French and Italian commerciale.^[4][7][8] Within Romanian it can be analysed as comerț with the suffix -al.^[1] The Latin adjective is formed on commercium (“trade, commerce”), from con- and merx (“merchandise”).^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1810, as comerțial “relating to trade”.^[2][4] MDA2 cites Kogălniceanu's Arhiva românească of 1841.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant “relating to trade, mercantile”, and was used in legal terms such as drept comercial “commercial law” and tribunal comercial “commercial court”.^[4][10] A town where much trade is done is also comercial.^[11][10]

MDA2 records later senses: of goods, intended for the home market or easy to sell, and of films or books, made for sale with little cultural value;^[3] societate comercială is a company.^[3] Derivatives followed, mostly from French: comercializa (1931), comercialism (1965).^[2]

Timeline

• 1810 – comerțial, the first record.^[2][4]
• 1841 – comercial in Kogălniceanu's Arhiva românească.^[3]
• 1870 – comercial in Costinescu's dictionary.^[12]
• 1931 – the verb comercializa in CADE.^[2]
• 1965 – the noun comercialism.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to or belonging to comerț, commercial, mercantile: relații comerciale.^[5][1]
2. Coming from trade.^[5][3]
3. (of towns and regions) Where trade is highly developed.^[3][11]
4. (of products) marketable, easy to sell; intended for household use.^[3]
5. (of films, books) Made for sale, of little cultural value.^[3]

Word family

• comercializa
• comercialism

Related words

• comerț
• comerciant
• Latin commercium

Usage notes

Spirit comercial is a mercantile spirit, and societate comercială a company.^[3] The i is pronounced as a separate syllable, -ci-al.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. comerț
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 469
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. comercial
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 210
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. comercial
7. ^ 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. comerț
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 321
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 151
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. comercial
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 218