consilier

Forms

consilier m (plural consilieri, feminine equivalent consilieră)^[1] Old variants include consiliar (1724), conziliar, conziliaruș, conzilier and comsoliriu.^[2][3] Șincai writes the Latin form consiliariu.^[4] Tiktin records popular forms with -ț-, such as conțiliu and conțâliu.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French conseiller (“adviser”), remodelled after consiliu and consilia.^[5][2][6][1] DELR adds Italian consigliere as a possible source.^[2] The old forms in ⟨-ar-⟩ come from the Latin cōnsiliārius and Modern Greek κονσιλιάριος (konsiliários), those in ⟨z⟩ from the German pronunciation of the Latin word (compare German Konsiliarius), and the one in ⟨-ș⟩ from its Hungarian pronunciation.^[2] Tiktin names French and New Latin.^[4] The French noun is from Old French conseillier, from Latin cōnsiliātor.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1715, in Diichiti.^[4] DELR dates the variant consiliar “adviser, member of a council” to 1724, in a document published by Iorga.^[2] MDA2's first record is in Grigore Alexandrescu's poems of 1863.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word was a title of the Habsburg and Transylvanian administration: conzilierie, the rank of an imperial counsellor, is recorded in 1730.^[2] Tiktin gives consilier intim “privy councillor”, consilier comunal “town councillor” and consilier la curtea de apel “judge of the court of appeal”.^[4] DEX marks the judicial sense as dated.^[5] The general sense is an adviser, and in the modern civil service a consilier is a grade held by specialists.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1715 – the first record, in Diichiti.^[4]
• 1724 – consiliar “adviser, member of a council”.^[2]
• 1730 – conzilierie “rank of a counsellor”.^[2]
• 1841 – the verb consilia “to advise”.^[2]
• 1862 – deconsilia “to advise against”.^[2]
• 1863 – consilier in Grigore Alexandrescu.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An adviser, counsellor: consilierul președintelui “the president's adviser”.^[5][3]
2. A grade in the hierarchy of some posts, or the person who holds it: consilier juridic “legal adviser”.^[5][3]
3. A member of a council: consilier local “local councillor”.^[7][8]
4. (dated) A member of a high court of justice or audit.^[5][3]

Word family

• consilieră

Related words

• consiliu
• consilia
• French conseiller

Usage notes

The feminine is consilieră;^[5][4][6] consiliereasă is a counsellor's wife or a colloquial feminine.^[5][4][6] The i and e are said in two syllables, -li-er.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. consiliu
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 489
4. ^ 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. consilier
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. 223
6. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 335
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. consilier
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. consilier