concept

Forms

concept n (plural concepte)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin conceptus (“conception, thought”), also with the neuter participle conceptum, and DELR adds two models: borrowed from German Konzept, as well as borrowed from French concept.^[2] Tiktin names Latin and German, MDA2 Latin alone, and DEX, DILF and NODEX French alone;^{[3][4][5][6][7][1][8]} Wiktionary and the neologism dictionaries give French and Latin.^{[3][4][5][6][7][1][8]} Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of concepe “to conceive”.^[9]

The first record has the Latin spelling ⟨conțeptum⟩, and the older Romanian forms conțept and conțet show the German pronunciation of the chancery word.^[2][3] Scriban derives the latter, a Moldavian popular word for “wit, understanding”, from German through Polish, and ties it to conțopist “clerk”, which Ciorănescu derives from German Konzipist.^[10][9]

The Latin noun is formed from concipiō (“to take in, conceive”) with the suffix -tus, and the verb from con- and capiō (“to take”).^[11][1] French borrowed its word from Latin in 1404, with the Christian abstract sense “thought, conception”.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1791, a document published in the historical section of the Academy's Annals, where the word has the Latin form conțeptum.^[2][3] MDA2's first quotation is from Nicolae Bălcescu, who speaks of a new science founded on the concept of the laws of the mind.^[4][13]

Semantic evolution

Two senses came in together: the philosophical “general idea, notion” and the office term “first draft”.^[2][3] Șăineanu (1929) still labels them as a philosophical term and a chancery term, the draft being opposed to the fair copy.^[14] The draft sense matches German Konzept, and lives on beside ciornă and schiță.^[3][5]

In the press of the 2000s the word is used for a prototype vehicle shown to test the public's response: mașină concept “concept car”.^[15]

Timeline

• 1791 – first record, as conțeptum, in a document.^[2][3]
• 1893–1895 – Damé glosses it with French “brouillon, minute” (draft).^[16]
• 2003 – mașină concept “concept car” in the press.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A general idea that grasps the essential features of a class of things; a notion.^[5][4]
2. A draft or sketch of a text: conceptul unui raport “the draft of a report”.^[5][17]
3. A prototype, chiefly a car shown to the public: mașină concept.^[15]

Related words

• concepe
• concepție
• conțopist
• Latin conceptus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. concepe
3. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. concept
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 478
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 216
6. ^ a b Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. concept
7. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. concept
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. concept
9. ^ a b 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. concepe
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 327
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. conceptus
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. concept
13. ^ 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. concept
14. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 155
15. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. concept
16. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. concept
17. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 513