consecință

Forms

consecință f (plural consecințe)^[1] Older texts have the variants consecvenție, consecuență, consecuință and consecvință.^[2][3] Alecu Russo writes „Pentru cei dedați cu cvestiile economice consecvințile se văd” “for those used to economic questions the consequences are plain to see”.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnsequentia (“succession; logical consequence”), a learned borrowing, with French conséquence as a second model.^[2][3][5][6] Ciorănescu names only the Latin word and dates the borrowing to the 19th century,^[7] while DEX and the neologism dictionaries put the French word first.^[6][8] DELR explains the Romanian form as an adaptation of the Latin one,^[2] and Wiktionary sees in it the suffix -ință, which made the word look like an inherited one.^[1] The Latin noun is formed on cōnsequēns, the present participle of cōnsequor (“to follow, pursue, overtake”), from con- and sequor (“to follow”).^[2][1][9] The French word was itself borrowed from the Latin one.^[1]

The same Latin word gave the doublet consecvență, which was at first used in the same senses.^[2][7][10] Later the two split: this word kept “effect, result”, and its doublet took “agreement between principles and their application”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the variant consecvenție, which Iorgovici proposed in 1799 in a list of new words for Romanian.^[2] Asachi used it again in 1821.^[2] A document of 1819 printed in the Uricariul has consecvență in the sense “result”: „o consecvență a îndurării” “a consequence of the mercy”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Through the 19th century the forms consecvență and consecință were used side by side, with no difference of sense; the DA still notes that the moral sense was more often consecvență and the others more often consecință.^[4][2] In Maiorescu's essays consecință already means “logical result”, and he wrote of drawing the practical consecințe of an idea.^[4] The DA records the adverbial phrase în consecință “accordingly; therefore”.^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1799 – consecvenție in Iorgovici's list of proposed new words.^[2]
• 1819 – consecvență “consequence” in a document in the Uricariul.^[4][5]
• 1821 – the word in Asachi.^[2]
• 1955 – the senses and phrases of the modern language in the DLRLC.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A consequence, result: what follows from an act, an action or a principle: Decizia a avut consecințe grave pentru firmă.^[6][3]
2. în consecință: therefore, so; also: accordingly, as the situation requires.^[6][3]
3. a trage consecințele: to bear the consequences of an action.^[3][4]

Related words

• consecvență
• Latin cōnsequentia

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. consecință
3. ^ 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, 488
4. ^ 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. consecință
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. consecință
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 223
7. ^ a b c 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. consecință
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. consecință
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 85
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 524