convenabil

Forms

convenabil m or n (feminine singular convenabilă, masculine plural convenabili, feminine/neuter plural convenabile)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French convenable (“suitable, proper”), as DELR, DEX, MDA2, Tiktin and Scriban agree;^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} DN and DLRM say it is modelled on the French word.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} The French adjective is formed from convenir (“to suit, to agree”) with the suffix -able.^[1][6] DELR treats it in the family of conveni, with convenient and conveniență, which were taken from Latin and French.^[2] Negulici gave Latin conveniēns as its equivalent in 1848.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date it to Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848, which defines it as fitting, suitable, good for something, and also gives an adverb, “in a fitting way”.^[2][5][9] MDA2's first record is later, Caragiale's short stories of 1897.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The early sense was “proper, seemly”: Costinescu (1870) explains it with Romanian words for what is fitting and decent, and Șăineanu as “what is proper”.^[10][11] CADE (1931) still has “decent” as a second sense (ținută convenabilă “proper dress”).^[12] MDA2 now marks this sense as obsolete.^[4] The modern senses are those of something that suits a person: acceptable, satisfactory, advantageous, and of prices and goods, cheap.^[3][7] The word is also used as an adverb.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1848 – first record, in Negulici's dictionary.^[2][9]
• 1870 – Costinescu gives the adjective and the adverb.^[10]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German words for fitting and proper.^[13]
• 1897 – in Caragiale's short stories.^[4][14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That suits or may suit someone: suitable, acceptable, convenient.^[3][4][15]
2. satisfactory, advantageous.^[3][4]
3. Of prices or goods: cheap, reasonable.^[3][7]
4. (obsolete) Proper, decent.^[4][12]

Word family

• neconvenabil

Related words

• conveni
• convenient
• French convenable

Usage notes

The negative is neconvenabil.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b 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. conveni
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 231
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 501
5. ^ 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. convenábil
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 343
7. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 165
12. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional