divers

Forms

divers m or n (feminine singular diversă, masculine plural diverși, feminine/neuter plural diverse)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dīversus (“turned in different directions; different, various”), a learned loan.^[2][3] It is also borrowed from French divers.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin takes it from Latin, “also indirectly”, Scriban from the Latin word alone, the CADE and Wiktionary from French.^[6][7][8][1] Marcu and Maneca add Italian diverso as a third model.^[9]

The Latin adjective is the past participle of dīvertō (“to turn aside, part”), formed from dis- and vertō (“to turn”).^[2][7] Graur lists it among the Romanian words that continue the Latin verb, both loans and native words.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and MDA2 date the word to 1788, in Budai-Deleanu's Pravila: „Căile amăgiturii sunt așa de multe (diverse) feluri la chip” “the ways of deceit are of so many (various) kinds”, where it glosses the native multe.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Through the 19th century the adjective spread in learned and literary prose, after the noun it qualified, as in Alecsandri's limbi diverse “various languages”.^[3] The phrase fapt divers, a newspaper term for a minor everyday event and for the column that reports such events, is labelled newspaper style by the CADE.^[8][4] Placed before a plural noun the adjective means “all kinds of”, and the feminine plural diverse became a noun for minor matters at the end of a meeting's agenda.^[4][11] DELR records the adverb diversamente from 1860, after Italian and French, and biodiversitate from 1987, after English.^[2]

Timeline

• 1788 – first record, in Budai-Deleanu's Pravila.^[2][6]
• 1860 – diversamente “in various ways”.^[2]
• 1931 – fapt divers “news item” in the CADE.^[8]
• 1987 – biodiversitate “biodiversity”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. varied, diverse: showing different aspects or features; diferit, felurit.^[4][5]
2. fapt divers: a trivial everyday event; the newspaper column that reports such events briefly.^[4][5]
3. (plural, before the noun) All kinds of, various: diverse obiecte “various objects”.^[4][5]

Noun

1. (feminine plural diverse) Minor, additional matters discussed at a meeting.^[4][12]

Related words

• vers
• Latin dīversus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. divers
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. divers
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 323
5. ^ 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, 734
6. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. divers
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 435
8. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. divers
9. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. divers
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 105
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 136
12. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. divers