destin

Forms

destin n (plural destine)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French destin (“fate, destiny”).^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin, Scriban, DN and DELR name Italian destino as a possible second model.^[5][6][7][2] The French noun is a deverbal of destiner (“to destine”), a borrowing of Latin dēstinō (“to make fast; to fix, determine”).^[2][1] DELR analyses the Latin verb as dē- with a nasal derivative of the root of stō (“to stand”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and Tiktin date the first record to 1794, in a calendar printed in Vienna, the source DELR also cites for destinat “destined” and the old feminine destinată “fate” in the same year.^[3][5][2] DELR's own first record of the noun is Vârnav's of 1823, with the sense of the chain of events in a person's life, seen as fixed in advance.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word names both the fixed course of a life and the supernatural will thought to fix it, the sense that Negulici in 1848 glossed with the native soarta and ursita.^[8][4] Costinescu (1870) defined it as the chain of linked causes that brings things inevitably to their end, and noted that it differs from soartă “lot”.^[9] Early dictionaries also record the Fate of mythology, a blind divinity ruling human lives.^[10][11] The plural was both destine and destinuri, the latter now obsolete.^[3][6] An old feminine destină and the noun destinată, from French destinée, had the same sense.^[2]

Timeline

• 1794 – destin in a calendar printed in Vienna, the first record.^[3][5]
• 1794 – the verb destina in Văcărescu's history, and destinat “destined”.^[2]
• 1823 – destin in Vârnav.^[2]
• 1828 – destinație “destination; purpose” in Heliade-Rădulescu's grammar.^[2]
• 1848 – destin in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1875 – destinatar “addressee”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. fate, destiny; the future that awaits someone: Fiecare om își face singur destinul. “Everyone makes his own destiny.”^[4][3][1]
2. The supernatural force or will believed to decide irrevocably all that happens in a person's life; fatality.^[4][12]

Related words

• destina
• destinat
• destinație
• destinatar
• predestina
• French destin

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. destin
3. ^ 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, 675
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 301
5. ^ 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. destin
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 413
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. destin
8. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. destin
9. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 327
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 205
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. destin
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. destin