dentist

Forms

dentist m (plural dentiști, feminine equivalent dentistă)^[1] Older and regional variants are dantist and dandist, and, Romanianized after dinte, dintist: „trebuie să alergăm la ajutorul unui dintist meșter” “we must run for the help of a skilled dentist”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French dentiste, itself formed from French dent + -iste, with dent (“tooth”) from Latin dēns (“tooth”).^[2][5][1][6] DEX, the DLR and MDA2 add German Dentist as a second source, while DELR finds German influence improbable, since the usual German word is Zahnarzt.^[5][3][4][2] The German word was itself taken from French in the second half of the 18th century.^[7] Scriban names Italian dentista beside the French word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the form dantist in I. Seligher's Povățuire pentru curățenia gurii “Advice on cleaning the mouth” (1828); MDA2 cites the same book under 1826.^[2][4] The spelling dentist follows in Albina românească in 1831.^[2] Tiktin also dates it to 1828.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century dantist was the common form: the DLR quotes it from Albineț, from an 1859 journal article on the first use of nitrous oxide to pull a tooth, and still from Vlahuță.^[3] Șăineanu (1929) and CADE describe the dentist as a surgeon who cleans, treats or pulls teeth.^[10][11] The feminine dentistă is recorded from 1924 and dentistică “dentistry” from 1885.^[2] In current usage it is a synonym of stomatolog; the DLR quotes the adjectival medic dentist from a newspaper of 2005.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1828 – dantist in Seligher's Povățuire pentru curățenia gurii, the first record.^[2]
• 1831 – the form dentist in Albina românească.^[2]
• 1885 – arta dentistică “the art of dentistry”.^[2]
• 1924 – the feminine dentistă.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dentist, a doctor who treats diseases of the teeth; stomatolog.^[5][1]

Adjective

1. Specialized in dentistică: medic dentist, tehnician dentist.^[12][13]

Word family

• dentistă
• dentistică

Related words

• dinte
• dentar
• dantelă
• French dentiste

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. dentar
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dentist
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 643
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 289
6. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 37
7. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 403
9. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. dentist
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 198
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. dentist
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 278
13. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. dentist