contrazice

Forms

contrazice (first-person singular present contrazic, past participle contrazis, third-person subjunctive contrazică), 3rd conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian contra- + zice on the model of French contredire, as DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary explain it.^[2][3][1] DELR treats it as a loan of the French verb and of learned Latin contrādīcō, made Romanian after the native verb, and Ciorănescu as a translation of the French verb conjugated like it.^[4][5] Tiktin and the neologism dictionaries name the Latin verb as the model.^[6][7] The French verb is itself adapted from the Latin verb after dire.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the form contradicălui in Samuil Micu, of 1802.^[4] Contrazice itself appears in Șincai's Hronica, about 1812.^[4][6] Șincai still used contradicălui too.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From “to say the contrary of what someone said” the verb came to mean “to be incompatible with, to belie” of facts and statements, and reflexively “to contradict oneself” and “to disagree with one another”.^[2][9][3] In law it is also to answer an opponent's evidence with contrary testimony.^[3][9] Its abstract noun is contrazicere, beside the learned contradicție.^[9][5]

Timeline

• 1802 – contradicălui in Samuil Micu.^[4]
• c. 1812 – contrazice in Șincai's Hronica.^[4][6]
• 1890 – in Gherea's Studii critice: events in a play should not contradict the characters.^[3][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To contradict someone: to maintain the contrary of what they say; to deny.^[2][3]
2. To be incompatible with something; to belie it.^[2][3]
3. (reflexive) To contradict oneself.^[2][3][1]
4. (reflexive, reciprocal) Of people, to disagree with one another; of statements or testimony, not to agree with each other.^[2][3]
5. (law) To answer the evidence of the other party with contrary testimony.^[3][9]

Word family

• contrazicere
• contrazicător

Related words

• zice
• deszice

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 230
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 499
4. ^ 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. contrazice
5. ^ 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. contrazice
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. contrazice
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. contrazice
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d 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. contrazice
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 539