convingător

Forms

convingător m or n (feminine singular convingătoare, masculine plural convingători, feminine/neuter plural convingătoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian convinge + -ător, the verb “to convince” with the agent suffix.^[2][3][4][1] The Romanian verb is a 19th-century borrowing: DELR takes it from French convaincre, reshaped after învinge, while DEX and MDA2 take it from Latin convincō (“to prove guilty; to show clearly”), again after the same verb.^[2][3][4] DLRM forms the adjective on the present stem ⟨conving⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the adjective to 1862, in Odobescu, with the sense “able to convince”.^[2] It was in the dictionaries by 1886, when Barcianu glossed it German überzeugend.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word is said mainly of facts and arguments, and more rarely of people: what persuades, what is conclusive.^[3][7] Its negative neconvingător “unconvincing” is recorded from 1936.^[2]

Timeline

• 1862 – convingător in Odobescu.^[2]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary.^[6]
• 1936 – the negative neconvingător.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. convincing, persuasive: that convinces; concludent, said of facts and arguments: un argument convingător.^[3][4][1]
2. Used as an adverb: in a convincing way: A vorbit convingător.^[8]

Word family

• neconvingător

Related words

• convinge
• convingere
• convins

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. convinge
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 232
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 502
5. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
6. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 136
7. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 542
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. convingător