credință

Forms

credință f (plural credințe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin crēdentia (“belief”), from crēdēns (“believing”), from crēdō (“to believe”).^{[2][1][3][4][5]} REW notes that a word formed in Romanian on crede would be ⟨crezință⟩, which points to inheritance.^[6] Wiktionary also allows a Romanian formation with -ință.^[1] The Romance cognates include Italian credenza, Occitan crezensa, French croyance, Spanish creencia and Portuguese crença.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, of the early 16th century.^[7] The Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) has it in James 2:14.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The old texts use the word for both faith in God and loyalty to a person: Miron Costin writes „ș-au dat credința unul spre altul” “they pledged their faith to each other”.^[8] Om de credință was a trusted man, and the credincer a court official who tasted the prince's food and wine; the phrase a bea credință kept the custom.^[2][9] Bună credință and rea credință are “good faith” and “bad faith”, which Scriban compares with French and Latin.^[8][10]

In Banat, Transylvania and Maramureș the word means “betrothal”, and also the betrothal gift.^[2][11] A commercial sense, “credit”, survives in a lua pe credință “to buy on credit”.^[11][2] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 already lists the senses “faith”, “loyalty”, “credit” and “betrothal”.^[12]

Timeline

• early 16th century – credință in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[7]
• c. 1563–1583 – credință “faith” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][8]
• 1570 – credință in Coresi's Psalter.^[13]
• 1688 – „Nici în Israil nu aflaiu atâta credință” “not even in Israel have I found such faith” in the Bucharest Bible.^[8]
• 1825 – the senses “credit” and “betrothal” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. belief in the truth of something; conviction, certainty;^[9] profesiune de credință is a public statement of one's principles.^[9]
2. (dated) Trust inspired by someone;^[9] în credință “truly”;^[9] a-și mânca credința “to lose everyone's trust”.^[9]
3. faithfulness, devotion, loyalty;^[9][11] (regional) betrothal.^[9][11]
4. Hope, expectation.^[9]
5. Religious faith: belief in God and its practice; religion, creed.^[9][4]

Word family

• credincios
• necredincios
• credincioșie
• credincer
• necredință
• încredința
• încredințător

Related words

• credere
• crede
• crez
• Latin crēdō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. credință
3. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 36
4. ^ 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, 543
5. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 62
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2306
7. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 26:19
8. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. credință
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 247
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 362
11. ^ a b c d Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. credință
12. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 145
13. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 32:4