dependent

Forms

dependent m or n (feminine singular dependentă, masculine plural dependenți, feminine/neuter plural dependente)^[1] An old form dependinte occurs in Ion Ghica: „fericirea sa proprie este strâns legată și dependinte de fericirile celorlalți” “his own happiness is closely bound up with, and dependent on, the happiness of others”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French dépendant.^{[4][5][6][2][1]} DELR adds Latin dependens as a learned source, and Scriban gives the Latin word alone.^[3][7] DELR places it in the family of depinde, beside dependență and independent.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Gheorghe Săulescu's Romanian grammar of 1833.^[3][6] MDA2 cites his Hronologhia și istoria universală of 1837.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The DLR's quotations show the general sense “depending on someone or something” from Barițiu and Ghica to Maiorescu, who also applied it to a judgement that follows from another.^[2] Mid-20th-century dictionaries apply it to countries without economic or political autonomy.^[8] Recent use adds dependence on a substance or habit, as in a 2005 newspaper's “dependent on drugs”, and grammar uses propoziție dependentă for a subordinate clause.^[3][2] The negatives came from French as well: independent was recorded already in 1794, and interdependent in 1927.^[3]

Timeline

• 1787 – dependență, as dipendență, in Ienăchiță Văcărescu's grammar.^[3]
• 1794 – independent, as indipendente, in Văcărescu's history.^[3]
• 1833 – dependent in Săulescu's grammar.^[3][6]
• 1837 – in Săulescu's Hronologhia.^[5]
• 1927 – interdependent in Ralea.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dependent: depending on someone or something; subordinate.^[4][9]
2. Not autonomous; of states and territories, lacking economic or political independence.^[4][9]
3. Unable to do without something or someone; addicted: dependent de nicotină.^[3]
4. (grammar) Subordinate: propoziție dependentă “subordinate clause”.^[3][2]

Related words

• depinde
• dependență
• independent
• interdependent

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dependent
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. depinde
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 291
5. ^ 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, 646
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. dependent
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 404
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 53
9. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. dependent