creator

Forms

creator m or n (feminine singular creatoare, masculine plural creatori, feminine/neuter plural creatoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French créateur, with Latin creātor (“creator, founder”) as a second source.^[2][3][4] MDA2 adds Italian creatore.^[5] Tiktin and the DA name only the French model.^[6][7] Scriban names only the Latin.^[8] Wiktionary takes it from French and notes that it matches from Romanian crea + -tor.^[1] The Latin noun is formed on creō (“to create, beget”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the word to 1836.^[6] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 explains it as one who makes something out of nothing, God, and an inventor.^[10] MDA2's first record is in Grigore Alexandrescu's poems of 1863, addressed to the “master creator” who gave being to worlds that did not exist.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was the maker of the world, God; from it came the figurative senses of inventor, author of original works and founder.^[7][10][11] Costinescu already used it as an adjective, geniu creator “creative genius”.^[11] The theatre has creatorul unui rol, the actor who first plays a part or gives it an interpretation others follow.^[7][5] A recent phrase is creator de evenimente “event organizer”, recorded in 2007 after English events creator and French créateur d'événements.^[12]

Timeline

• 1836 – the first record.^[6]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1863 – Stăpâne creator in Grigore Alexandrescu's poems.^[5][7]
• 1870 – noun and adjective in Costinescu's dictionary.^[11]
• 2007 – creator de evenimente “event organizer” in the press.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. creative: that creates or founds something: spirit creator “creative spirit”.^[2][13][1]

Noun

1. A creator, a person who creates or founds something; an author, an inventor, a founder.^[2][5][1]
2. (religion, with the article) Creatorul, God, the maker of the world.^[2][5]
3. (theatre) creatorul unui rol: the actor who plays a part for the first time or gives it a model interpretation.^[5][7]

Related words

• crea
• creație
• creatură
• Latin creātor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 247
3. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. creator
4. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. creator
5. ^ 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, 542
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. creatór
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. creator
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 362
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. creātor
10. ^ 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, p. 109
11. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 266
12. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. creatór
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 572