document

Forms

document n (plural documente)^[1] The first records spell it docoment (1732), and older texts also have documânt, documint, ducament, ducoment and ducument.^[2][3] Besides the plural documente there was an old plural documenturi.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin documentum and French document, the two sources that DEX and MDN name.^[4][5] DN starts from the Latin and compares French and Italian documento, Wiktionary names all three, and DELR names the Latin, the French and German Dokument.^[6][1][2] Tiktin gives the Latin word alone.^[7]

The Latin noun meant “lesson, example, proof”, and in Late and Medieval Latin a deed serving as evidence; it is formed on doceō (“to teach”) with the suffix -mentum.^[2][8][1] French borrowed it in 1214, but its modern sense of written proof grew from its use in legal language in the late 17th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1731, in a document published in the bulletin of the Historical Commission;^[7][2] DELR's is of 1732, the form docoment in a collection of Transylvanian records.^[7][2] Both use it of a deed that attests a fact or confers a right.^[2] MDA2 cites it first from Paul Iorgovici's Observații de limba rumânească of 1799.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense of a deed or charter came first, beside native and older words such as hrisov and senet, with which Costinescu explained it in 1870.^[10][3] It widened to any text, inscription, photograph or other evidence through which a present or past fact can be known, and to any proof.^[4][3] Scriban's example calls a red nose the usual document of drunkenness.^[11]

Its family grew in the 19th century, mostly from French: documental in 1859, documenta “to prove by documents” in 1868, documentație and documentat in 1871 and documentar in 1873.^[2] In the 20th century it formed compounds such as roman-document and interviu-document.^[12]

Timeline

• 1731 – the first record, in a document published by the Historical Commission.^[7]
• 1732 – docoment in a Transylvanian record.^[2]
• 1799 – in Iorgovici's Observații de limba rumânească.^[3]
• 1859 – documental “based on documents”.^[2]
• 1868 – the verb documenta.^[2]
• 1873 – documentar, later also a documentary film.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An official act or deed that attests a fact, confers a right or records an obligation.^[4][3]
2. A written or printed text, an inscription or other evidence through which a present or past fact can be known: documente istorice “historical documents”.^[4][5]
3. (by extension) Any proof or sign that confirms a fact.^[3]

Word family

• documenta
• documental
• documentar
• documentarist
• documentaristic
• documentat
• documentație

Related words

• doctor
• doctrină
• Latin documentum

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 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. document
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 739
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 325
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. document
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. document
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. document
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 352
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 439
12. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. document