deloc

Etymology

Most dictionaries explain it as from Romanian de + loc, literally “from (the) place”.^[2][3][4][1] Pușcariu started from phrases with negated verbs of motion such as “I don't budge from the spot”.^[5]

DELR finds this unlikely in meaning, since “from the place” does not strengthen a negation.^[5] It prefers, after J. Byck (1950), the phrase nici (de) leac, built on the word for “remedy” and literally “not even (as much as) a remedy”, recorded from the 17th century, from the small doses in which remedies were taken.^[5] In this view the word for remedy was replaced by the similar-sounding word for place once the phrase was no longer understood;^[5] DELR compares parallel South Slavic phrases in Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian and negations of a minimal quantity such as English “not a bit”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Mărgăritare of 1691; the next records date from about 1800.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its usual use strengthens a negation: nu… deloc “not at all”.^[5][4] An older sense, “at once, immediately”, is in Klein's dictionary of 1801, glossed Latin statim, illico;^[6][7][1] Tiktin records it in old texts and in Banat speech, and Wiktionary marks it obsolete or regional.^[6][7][1]

Timeline

• 1691 – first record, in the Mărgăritare.^[5]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it “at once”.^[6]
• 1950 – J. Byck derives it from nici de leac.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (with a negative) at all, in no way: Nu mi-e deloc frig.^[2][3][1]
2. (obsolete or regional) At once, immediately.^[7][6][1]

Related words

• loc
• leac
• defel
• nicidecum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 286
3. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 636
4. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. deloc
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. deloc
6. ^ a b c d 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. 348
7. ^ 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. loc