discret

Forms

discret m or n (feminine singular discretă, masculine plural discreți, feminine/neuter plural discrete)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French discret.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin and DN also name Italian discreto, and the DLR takes the mathematical and physical senses straight from Latin discrētus (“separated”).^[5][6][7] The Latin word is the past participle of discernō (“to separate, distinguish”), from cernō (“to sift; to distinguish”), and acquired in Medieval Latin the sense “prudent, discerning”.^[2] French borrowed it about 1165; from “prudent” it developed “able to keep a secret” in the early 14th century and “reserved” around 1500.^[8]

The ecclesiastical noun, a member of the council of a Catholic monastery's superior, follows the same New Latin word, and the early variant dișcret reproduces it with a Hungarian pronunciation.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record, from 1783, is an obsolete noun meaning “gift”, glossed by the native plocon in the source: „discret adecă plocon”.^[5] DELR's first record is the variant dișcret in a church decree of 1787, in the ecclesiastical sense; the form discret appears around 1832 in I. Golescu.^[2] MDA2 dates the modern sense to Heliade's translation of Byron's Don Juan (1847): „trebuie cineva să fie discret” “one must be discreet”.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

In Negulici's dictionary of 1848 it means “considerate, prudent, guarded in words and deeds, faithful in keeping a secret”.^[9] Costinescu (1870) still records the monastic noun beside the adjective.^[10] From people the adjective passed to their behaviour and then to things that do not attract attention: discreet colours, light or jewellery.^[3][4][11] In mathematics and physics it means “made of distinct units, discontinuous”.^[3][12] The family includes discreție (1831) and indiscret (c. 1832), both borrowed from French.^[2]

Timeline

• 1783 – discret “gift”, an obsolete noun.^[5]
• 1787 – dișcret, a member of a Catholic monastic council, in a church decree.^[2]
• 1831 – discreție “discretion”.^[2]
• c. 1832 – discret in I. Golescu, and indiscret.^[2]
• 1847 – the sense “discreet” in Heliade's Don Juan.^[4][7]
• 1848 – entered in Negulici's dictionary.^[9][7]
• 1870 – discretoriu, the monastic council, in Costinescu.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of people, able to keep a secret; reserved, restrained in words and actions.^[3][4]
2. Of actions, typical of a discreet person; as an adverb, without attracting attention: A plecat discret. “He left discreetly.”^[3]
3. (figurative) Of things, not striking, barely perceptible; of colours, subdued.^[3][4]
4. (mathematics) mulțime discretă: a set made only of isolated points.^[3]
5. (physics) Made of distinct signals; of a quantity, taking only a finite number of values.^[3][12]

Noun

1. (obsolete) A monk or nun on the council of a Catholic monastery's superior.^[2][10]

Related words

• discreție
• indiscret
• cerne
• discerne
• discreționar

References

1. ^ a b c 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. discret
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. 319
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 724
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. discret
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. discret
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 344
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
12. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual