confortabil

Forms

confortabil m or n (feminine singular confortabilă, masculine plural confortabili, feminine/neuter plural confortabile)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French confortable (“comfortable”), a neologism of the mid-19th century.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin and the DLRM say it was made on the French model, and DN only compares the French word.^[5][6][7] DELR lists it in the family of confort.^[2]

The French adjective in this sense comes from English comfortable, which goes back to Old French confortable.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848, which explains the word as “comforting; good, sufficient” and illustrates it with food and dwellings.^[8][5][2] MDA2 dates its first record to the 1875 edition of Alecsandri's plays.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In 1870 Costinescu defined it as anything that serves to make life more pleasant, and Barcianu glossed it in 1886 with German “bequem, behaglich” (comfortable, cosy).^[9][10] The usual collocation was with a house or a dwelling, as in Alecsandri's plays and in Scriban's and Șăineanu's examples.^[11][12][13] It is also used as an adverb, “comfortably”.^[11] MDN adds a figurative sense: reassuring, and then large or considerable.^[14]

Timeline

• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms, the first record.^[8][5][2]
• before 1870 – the related verb conforta “to strengthen, encourage”, from French.^[2]
• 1870 – defined by Costinescu.^[9]
• 1875 – in the edition of Alecsandri's plays, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1931 – CADE records the negative neconfortabil.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Offering comfort; comfortable, cosy: un apartament confortabil.^[4][3][1]
2. (figurative) Reassuring, giving peace of mind; by extension, considerable: o majoritate confortabilă.^[14]
3. (adverbial) comfortably: stătea confortabil în fotoliu.^[11]

Word family

• neconfortabil

Related words

• confort
• French confortable

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. confort
3. ^ 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, 485
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 220
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. confortabil
6. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. confortabil
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. confortabil
8. ^ a b 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. confortabil
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 231
10. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 128
11. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 521
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 332
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 158
14. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. confortabil
15. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. confortabil