conștiință

Forms

conștiință f (plural conștiințe)^[1] Older variants were consciență, conscienție, consciință and conștiență;^[2][3] Dosoftei wrote cuștiință.^[2][3] Cantemir used the form conștienție in the Istoria ieroglifică.^[3] In Negulici's dictionary of 1848 the word is printed in the transitional alphabet as коншtiinцъ.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnscientia (“joint knowledge, consciousness, conscience”), a learned borrowing, together with French conscience, reshaped after the native verb ști “to know” and the noun știință.^[2][5][6][1] The DA and Tiktin give only the Latin source, CADE explains it as a compound of con- and the noun, modelled on the French word, and Gabinschi describes the Latin word as taken through French and Italian, with its ending rendered by the inherited noun.^[7][3][8][9]

The Latin noun is formed on cōnsciēns (“knowing, conscious”), the present participle of cōnsciō (“to know well, be conscious of”), from con- and sciō (“to know”).^[2] Wiktionary takes it as a calque of Ancient Greek συνείδησις (suneídēsis).^[1] French borrowed the Latin word around 1165, at first only in its moral sense.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is cuștiință in Dosoftei's Liturghier of 1679, a church text.^[2][3] MDA2 cites his Molitvelnic as its first record.^[6] DELR glosses the early sense as the capacity to be aware of one's own existence and of the outer world, together with the feeling of moral duty.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The DA and Tiktin divide the word's senses in two, matching German Bewußtsein and Gewissen: psychological awareness of oneself and the world, and the moral sense of duty, honesty and right and wrong.^[7][3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 gives only the moral sense, glossing it with the native cuget.^[4] The DA's 19th-century quotations show both senses, and also national awareness: conștiința națională.^[7]

In the 20th century the word took on the philosophical sense of thought as opposed to matter, and fixed phrases such as conștiință socială and conștiință de clasă entered the dictionaries.^[11][5][6] Its moral phrases are mustrare de conștiință “remorse”, caz de conștiință “a moral dilemma” and libertate de conștiință “freedom of conscience”.^[5][8] The form conștiență survives with a narrower sense, the state of being conscious.^[2]

Timeline

• 1679 – cuștiință in Dosoftei's Liturghier, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1818 – consțiențios, an early form of conștiincios “conscientious”, from French consciencieux.^[2]
• 1848 – listed by Negulici with the moral sense.^[4]
• 1871 – conștient “conscious”, recorded in Laurian and Massim's dictionary.^[2]
• 1887 – inconsciență, the first form of inconștiență.^[2]
• 1930 – inconștient “unconscious” in Arghezi.^[2]
• 1972 – the verb conștientiza “to become aware”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (philosophy) The awareness or intuition a human being has of their own existence; by extension, the knowledge each person has of themselves and of the things around them.^[5][6]
2. The fact of realising something; understanding.^[5][6]
3. (as opposed to being or matter) thought, mind.^[5]
4. conscience: the feeling of moral responsibility for one's own conduct: Avea conștiința împăcată după ce spusese adevărul. “His conscience was at peace after he had told the truth.”^[5][3]
5. In libertate de conștiință: the right to hold any religious or philosophical belief.^[5][8]

Word family

• conștiincios
• conștiinciozitate
• subconștiință

Related words

• știință
• ști
• Latin cōnscientia

Usage notes

DEX 2009 records the phrases a fi fără conștiință “to have no scruples” and cu mâna pe conștiință “in all sincerity”.^[5] The plural conștiințe is rare.^[11]

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 k l m 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. conștiință
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. conștiință
4. ^ a b c 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. conștiință
5. ^ 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. 226
6. ^ 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, 493
7. ^ a b c 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. conștiință
8. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. conștiință
9. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 85
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. conscience
11. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 531