comparație

Forms

comparație f (plural comparații)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin comparatio (“comparison”) in its learned use, with Italian comparazione and German Komparation as further models, according to DELR.^[2] DEX, MDA2 and Tiktin give only the Latin word, and Marcu adds the model of French comparaison.^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary also names the Latin and Italian words, and notes that the word matches compara + -ție.^[1] The Latin noun is comparō (“to pair, compare”) + -tiō, and the verb comes from compār (“equal”), con- + pār (“equal”).^[7][2]

The old variant comparațione is from the Italian word; in compărăciune the suffix was adapted to the inherited pattern, and in cumpărație and cumperație the prefix.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is in R. Tempea's grammar of 1797, a grammatical use.^[2] Tiktin dates the word to about 1814, in Asachi.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word entered Romanian with the grammar and rhetoric of the late 18th century, and its senses stayed learned: an examination of likenesses and differences, the degrees of comparison of the adjective, and a figure of speech.^[2][3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defines it as words that show the likeness of two beings or things.^[8] The older forms comparațiune and comperație have given way to comparație.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1797 – first record, in R. Tempea's grammar.^[2]
• c. 1814 – in Asachi.^[5]
• 1832 – comparabil “comparable”, from French.^[2]
• 1843 – in Kretzulescu's manual of anatomy.^[4]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. comparison: the examination of two or more things, beings or phenomena to find their likenesses and differences: o comparație între două traduceri.^[3][4]
2. Grad de comparație “degree of comparison”: the form an adjective or adverb takes to show a greater or lesser degree of a quality;^[3] termen de comparație “term of comparison”.^[3]
3. În comparație cu “compared with”;^[3][4] a nu suferi comparație “to be beyond comparison”.^[3][4]
4. (rhetoric) A simile: a figure of speech that sets two terms side by side on the basis of a shared quality.^[3][6]

Related words

• compara
• comparativ

References

1. ^ a b c 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. compara
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 211
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 472
5. ^ 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. comparație
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. comparație
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. comparātiō
8. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. comparație