delicat

Forms

delicat m or n (feminine singular delicată, masculine plural delicați, feminine/neuter plural delicate)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French délicat and a learned borrowed from Latin dēlicātus (“delightful, charming, elegant”), a neologism of the late 18th century.^[2][3] DER and MDA2 give French alone,^[4][5] Tiktin and Scriban give Latin, Tiktin adding that it may have come through another language,^[6][7] and the neologism dictionaries add Italian as a third source.^[8]

The origin of the Latin adjective is doubtful.^[9] DELR relates it, probably, to dēliciō (“to allure, delight”);^[2] Wiktionary and Lewis and Short take it from the stem of dēliciae (“delight”).^[1][10]

The Aromanian dilicat has a separate source: DER and Papahagi derive it from Italian delicato.^[4][11] Pascu compares the Modern Greek ντελικάτος (ntelikátos).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is a text of 1784–1787 by Cantacuzino, with the adjective's senses “fine, delicate; frail”.^[2] Tiktin dates it to 1789,^[6] and Klein's dictionary of 1801 glosses it with Latin dēlicātus;^[13] Gáldi notes that the history of this neologism is not known and that Klein's record is an early one.^[13] MDA2's first record is a translation printed at Buda in 1818.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first senses concerned the body and the look of things: fine, graceful, and then frail or weak.^[2][3] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 also gives “tasty, pleasant to the taste” and “touchy, easily offended”.^[14] Scriban in 1939 lists the other senses of the modern word: refined in taste, done with skill and care, considerate, scrupulous, and tricky or awkward, as in situațiune delicată; as a noun a face pe delicatul meant to be hard to please.^[7] Of colours it means soft and pale, of food, drink and perfume refined and choice.^[3]

Romanian took the abstract noun delicatețe in 1786 from délicatesse and delicatezza, and delicatesă “a delicacy (food)” in 1814 from Delikatesse, whose sense German had narrowed.^[2] The negative nedelicat was formed in 1838 after French indélicat, and nedelicatețe followed in 1841.^[2]

Timeline

• 1784–1787 – delicat in a text by Cantacuzino, the first record.^[2]
• 1786 – the abstract noun delicatețe.^[2]
• 1789 – Tiktin's first record.^[6]
• 1801 – delicát in Klein's dictionary, glossed with Latin delicatus.^[13]
• 1814 – delicatesă, a delicacy of food, from German.^[2]
• 1825 – delicatu in the Lexicon de la Buda, with Latin, Hungarian and German equivalents.^[15]
• 1838 – the negative nedelicat.^[2]
• 1930–1937 – the regional back-formation a se delica “to acquire town manners”, recorded for the linguistic atlas.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of beings and things: fine, graceful; by extension fragile; of people, frail, weak.^[3][5]
2. Of colours and shades: soft, pale, muted.^[3]
3. Of things: in good taste, finely made; of food, drink and perfume, refined, choice: un vin delicat.^[3][5]
4. Of people and their manners, often used as an adverb: considerate, gentle, free of roughness: I-a spus delicat că a greșit.^[3]
5. Of problems and situations: tricky, calling for great care and tact: o chestiune delicată.^[3][5]

Word family

• delicatesă
• delicatețe
• nedelicat
• nedelicatețe

Related words

• Aromanian dilicat
• Latin dēlicātus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. delicat
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 285
4. ^ a b 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. delicat
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 635
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. delicat
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 400
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. delicat
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 385
12. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 207
13. ^ a b c Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 245
14. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 305
15. ^ 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. 171