comunica

Forms

comunica (third-person singular present comunică, past participle comunicat, third-person subjunctive comunice), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin commūnicō (“to share, impart”) and French communiquer: DELR names the Latin neologism and the French verb,^[2] and Tiktin the same two,^[3] while MDA2 and DEX give French alone^[4][5] and DN and MDN French with Latin.^[6][7] The DA describes two steps: the word came into the old language from Latin and was borrowed a second time from French in the 19th century.^[8] The Latin verb is formed on commūnis (“common”) with -icō.^[9][1] The inherited cumineca “to give communion” is its doublet.^[8][1]

Several short-lived formations competed with it: comuni, formed on comun after French communier; comunicarisi, with the ending of the verbs in -arisi; and the Transylvanian comunicălui, from Hungarian kommunikál.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the verb to 1787, and DELR's first record is in Iorgovici's Observații of 1799.^[3][2] Among the DA's early quotations is Golescu's remark that the Greeks passed many of their crafts on to the Romans, in the sense “to impart, hand on”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The DA arranges the senses as: to impart or pass on, also of an illness passed on by contagion; to make known in writing or speech; intransitively, to be in contact or talk with someone, and of things, to be connected, as the sacral canal with its openings in Krețulescu's anatomy manual (1843) or a cave with a deserted tower in Alecsandri.^[8][4] A reflexive church sense “to take communion”, after Latin church usage and French, was an unsuccessful attempt to replace cumineca: C. Negruzzi tells of the Polish king going to the Catholic church to take communion.^[8]

The family grew from the 1820s, mostly after French: comunicat “communiqué” in 1826, comunicare in 1829, comunicativ and comunicabil about 1832, incomunicabil in 1848.^[2] Comunicație is older: DELR finds it in N. Costin (1700–1712) and takes it from Polish, later reinforced by French and Latin.^[2]

Timeline

• 1787 – Tiktin's first date;^[3] comunicălui in a Transylvanian church decree.^[3][2]
• 1799 – comunica in Iorgovici's Observații.^[2]
• 1826 – comuni and comunicat in Golescu.^[2]
• 1829 – comunicare and comunicarisi.^[2]
• 1843 – “to be connected”, of anatomical canals, in Krețulescu's anatomy manual.^[4][8]
• 1848 – incomunicabil in Negulici.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make known, orally or in writing; to inform, tell.^[5][4]
2. To impart, transmit, pass something on to someone.^[4][8]
3. (intransitive) To be in contact or talk with someone; to communicate.^[5][4]
4. (intransitive, of places) To be connected with, lead into: Bucătăria comunică cu sufrageria.^[5]
5. (obsolete, reflexive) To take communion.^[8]

Word family

• comuniant
• comunicabil
• comunicabilitate
• comunicare
• comunicat
• comunicativ
• comunicativitate
• comunicație
• electrocomunicație
• incomunicabil
• incomunicabilitate
• intercomunicație
• necomunicativ
• radiocomunicație

Related words

• comun
• cumineca

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. comunica
3. ^ 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. comunica
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 476
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 215
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. comunica
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. comunica
8. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. comunica
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press