complet

Forms

complet m or n (feminine singular completă, masculine plural compleți, feminine/neuter plural complete)^[1] The variant complect appears in the first records, as in the Organic Regulation of Wallachia (1832), and is still heard.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French complet, with Latin complētus named beside it by DEX 2009, MDA2, Tiktin and Wiktionary.^{[2][4][5][3][1]} The Latin word is the past participle of compleō “to fill up, complete”, from con- and pleō (“to fill”), which is attested almost only in compounds.^[2] Gabinschi counts it among the international words of Latin origin, taken from French and German komplett.^[6] Romanian inherited the same Latin verb as old cumpli (“to finish, destroy”), whose participle cumplit is thus a doublet of the loan.^[7][8]

The variant ⟨complect⟩ is explained in three ways.^[2][9][10] DELR takes it probably from Russian комплект (komplekt), which owes its ⟨k⟩ to the verb комплектовать (komplektovatʹ), and thinks the form spread outside Moldavia under the influence of direct and perfect.^[2][11] Ciorănescu calls it a hyperurbanism modelled on the latter.^[9] Scriban calls it a false form after Russian.^[10]

The legal noun, “bench of judges”, comes from the phrase ⟨(a fi) în complet⟩ “with nobody missing”, after French au complet.^[2] The noun “suit of clothes” is the French word again, now usually compleu.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1830.^[3] DELR's first record is the Organic Regulation of Wallachia of 1832, in the form complect and the sense “whole, with no part missing”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective and the adverb “entirely” came in together.^[2] The legal noun followed in 1851, and opere complete “complete works” and the sense “full” of a vehicle in which every seat is taken are recorded by DA.^[2][7] The clothing sense, “suit, set of matching garments”, passed to the newer loan compleu (1974), and DEX now marks it as obsolete for complet.^[2][4]

Derivatives came in with the adjective: completa “to complete” (1835), incomplet (1846), descompleta (1846), necomplet (1862) and completamente (1857).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1830 – first record.^[3]
• 1832 – complect in the Organic Regulation of Wallachia.^[2]
• 1835 – the verb completa, as complectui.^[2]
• 1846 – incomplet and descompleta.^[2]
• 1851 – the noun complet “bench of judges”.^[2]
• 1974 – compleu “suit, set of matching garments” takes over the clothing sense.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. complete, whole: containing everything needed, with no part missing: opere complete “complete works”.^[4][5]
2. (of public transport) full, with every seat taken.^[4][5]

Adverb

1. Completely, entirely: Am uitat complet de întâlnire.^[4][5]

Noun

1. complet de judecată: the bench of judges (and assessors) required by law to hear a case.^[4][5][2]
2. (dated) A suit or set of two or more matching garments, now compleu.^[4][5]
3. A full set of tools, devices or spare parts packed together.^[12]

Word family

• completa
• completamente
• compleu
• descompleta
• incomplet
• necomplet

Related words

• cumplit
• Latin complētus

Usage notes

DEX has a separate complet¹, an obsolete word for a popular ball or a dance hall on the outskirts of a town, with the variant complect.^[4][5] It is recorded from 1931 and is probably cuplet remade by folk etymology after complet “full”.^[2][4] Ciorănescu suggests that the link with “full” came from the crowds that fill such halls.^[9] DEX labels it an obsolete Gallicism.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. complet
3. ^ 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. complet
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 212
5. ^ 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, 473
6. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 83
7. ^ a b 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. complet
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ a b c 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. complet
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 324
11. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 2, 576
12. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. complet