comunitate

Forms

comunitate f (plural comunități)^[1] Older variants were comunită and the neuter comunitet, both used by Dimitrie Țichindeal.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

According to DELR it is borrowed from New Latin commūnitās (“community, fellowship”) as a learned word, with the senses of French communauté;^[3][2][5] Tiktin names the Latin word, French communité, German Kommunität and Italian comunità together, and the DA French and the Latin of the chanceries.^[3][2][5] The neologism dictionaries start from the Latin word, with French and Italian as models or parallels.^[6][7] DEX and MDA2 see a formation from Romanian comun + -itate, made on the model of the French word.^[8][4] Latin commūnitās is formed on commūnis (“common, shared”) with the suffix -tās.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is a document of 1772 published by Nicolae Iorga, where the word has the form comunitaș.^[3] Tiktin dates it from 1809, and MDA2 from Dimitrie Țichindeal's fables of 1814, where it means the people of a town or village: „multe comunități sânt pline de așa credință deșartă” “many communities are full of such idle belief”.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The early records name a body of people: the inhabitants of a place, and religious bodies such as the comunitățile religioase of a document of 1816.^[5] In Transylvania the word also meant a commune, the local administrative unit.^[5] The abstract sense, the fact of being common to several, and joint possession (comunitate de bunuri between husband and wife) appear in the 19th century, after French.^[5][10][11] In the 20th century biology took it for the plants that share an area, and politics for a group of states with common interests.^[6][12] DELR records the adjective comunitar in the same family.^[3]

Timeline

• 1772 – comunitaș in a document published by Iorga.^[3]
• 1809 – Tiktin's first record of comunitate.^[2]
• 1814 – comunitate, and the variants comunitet and comunită, in Țichindeal's fables.^[4][2]
• 1816 – comunitățile religioase in a document of the Uricariul.^[5]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary, with French communauté.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The fact of being common to several things or beings; joint possession: comunitate de interese “a community of interests”.^[8][4]
2. A community: a group of people with common interests, beliefs or ways of life; all the inhabitants of a place or country.^[8][4]
3. (biology) All the plant organisms that live in one area and are bound by mutual relations.^[6]
4. A group of states united by common economic, political and cultural interests.^[12]

Related words

• comună
• comuniune
• comunism

Usage notes

Comunitate de bunuri is the legal regime under which property acquired during a marriage belongs to both spouses.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. comunitate
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. comun
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, 477
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. comunitate
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. comunitate
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. comunitate
8. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 215
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 326
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. comunitate
12. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. comunitate
13. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 147