contesă

Forms

contesă f (plural contese, masculine equivalent conte)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French comtesse (“countess”), and at the same time borrowed from Italian contessa.^[2][3][4][5] DN puts the Italian word first, while CADE and the DLRM name the French alone, and DA calls the word a feminine of conte, made after the French.^[6][7][8][9] DELR adds Modern Greek κοντέσσα (kontéssa) as a third source, as for the masculine itself, which entered first through Modern Greek κόντες (kóntes).^[10] Wiktionary also notes that it can be analysed as the masculine with the feminine suffix -esă.^[1]

The French word comes from Old French contesse, equivalent to comte (“count”) and the suffix -esse.^[1] The Italian word continues Medieval Latin comitissa, the feminine of Latin comes (“companion, count”), formed with the suffix of noble titles -issa.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is a document of 1740 published by Iorga.^[10] MDA2 dates it only from Costache Negruzzi's writings, printed in 1872–1873, where a character talks of the opera and the Bois de Boulogne „cu contesa d'Imecourt”.^[13][9]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the one sense “wife or daughter of a count”.^[2][13] CADE also gives a woman who holds the title by inheritance.^[7] In the 19th century it was a word of the salons and of satire: Grigore Alexandrescu mocked „contese ideale, umflate de pretenții” “ideal countesses, puffed up with pretensions”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1740 – the first record, in a document published by Iorga.^[10]
• 1872 – contesa in Costache Negruzzi's collected writings.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A countess: the wife or daughter of a conte.^[2][13]
2. A woman who holds the title of count by inheritance.^[7]

Related words

• conte
• viconte
• vicontesă

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 227
3. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
9. ^ 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. conte
10. ^ a b c 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. conte
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ 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, 494