credit

Forms

credit n (plural credite)^[1] An older variant credet was made more Romanian in form; it appears in Jipescu: „pân credet și pân case de păstrare” “through credit and through savings banks”.^[2][3] Transylvania also had a form credít stressed on the last syllable.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French crédit, with Italian credito as a second source.^[2][4][5] The French word was itself taken from the Italian one, which goes back to Latin crēditum (“loan, debt”), the past participle of crēdō (“to entrust, lend; to believe”) used as a noun.^[2][6] MDA2 also names the Latin word and German Kredit among the sources, and the neologism dictionaries compare the Latin and Italian words beside the French one.^[7][8]

DELR explains the stress on the first syllable, unlike French, by the influence of the Latin participle; the Transylvanian variant stressed on the last syllable reflects the German word, and credet is the word adapted to Romanian.^[2] The German word came from Italian in the 15th century, in the trading towns of the south.^[9][10] Scriban took the French word from Italian credere (“to believe”), the verb that continues the Latin verb and is the source of Romanian crede.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to about 1770, as the variant credet in a text of Oxenstierna;^[2][5] Tiktin gives 1770 as well.^[2][5] MDA2 and the DA begin with the Pravila comercială of before 1837, where a merchant is told to guard his credit as the light of his eyes.^[7][3] The sense there is the trust in someone's ability to pay, on which he may buy on credit.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is financial: trust in a debtor's solvency, then the loan itself, the postponement of payment and, in book-keeping, the side of an account where the sums owed to someone are entered.^[3][2] Already in the 19th century the word also meant standing and influence: Bălcescu writes of a man who had so much credit at the Porte that he hoped for the Polish throne.^[5] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 glosses it with Latin fides and Hungarian hitel.^[13]

Set phrases grew around the sense “loan”: pe credit “on credit”, scrisoare de credit “letter of credit”, a deschide cuiva un credit “to open a credit for someone”, and in the 19th century credit public and stabiliment de credit “bank”.^[7][3] The recent press adds credit de consum “consumer loan” and credit auto “car loan”.^[14]

The family came from several languages: credita “to credit” from French créditer (1840), creditor from French, Latin and German (1792), discredit (1840) and discredita (about 1832) from French.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1770 – the variant credet, the first record.^[2][5]
• 1792 – creditor “lender”.^[2]
• 1825 – creditu in the Lexicon de la Buda, glossed “trust”.^[13]
• c. 1832 – discredita, as dăscredita, in Iordache Golescu.^[2]
• before 1837 – credit in the Pravila comercială.^[7][3]
• 1840 – credita and discredit in the French–Romanian vocabulary of Poenaru, Aaron and Hill.^[2]
• 1870 – scrisoare de credit “letter of credit” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loan or a sale on deferred payment between a creditor and a debtor; the sum lent, usually with interest: credit ipotecar “mortgage loan”;^[4][7] pe credit “on credit”.^[4][7]
2. Trust in someone's solvency, which allows them to borrow money or buy goods without paying at once.^[7][3]
3. (accounting) The right-hand side of an account, where the sums due to someone are entered, as opposed to debit.^[4][16]
4. A sum set aside in a budget for a given purpose.^[7][17]
5. (figurative) Esteem, standing or influence that someone enjoys: Are mult credit la director.^[16][8]

Word family

• credita
• creditor
• cocreditor
• discredit
• discredita

Related words

• crede
• French crédit

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. credit
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. credit
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 247
5. ^ 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. credit
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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, 543
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. credit
9. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
10. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 539
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 362
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ 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. 146
14. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. credit
15. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 267
16. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. credit
17. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. credit