dovadă

Forms

dovadă f (plural dovezi)^[1] The old variant doveadă had the plural doveade: „dupre multe doveade şi aiavea fapte, îţ cunoaştem” “by many proofs and plain deeds we know you”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian dovedi (“to prove”), according to Tiktin, the DLR, DEX and Ciorănescu, whom DELR follows.^{[4][5][6][7][1]} MDA2 instead gives it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic довада (dovada).^[3] Scriban compared Old Church Slavonic доводъ (dovodŭ, “argument”) and a Russian noun of the same form,^[8][9] and DELR records his view beside the usual one.^[7] Ciorănescu reports that Conev also took it from a Slavonic noun or Bulgarian довод (dovod, “proof”).^[6][10]

The verb is itself from Old Church Slavonic довести (dovesti, “to lead to, bring”).^[6][11] The noun has /a/ where the verb has /e/, and the plural dovezi has /e/ again.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1687–1691, in Miron Costin's work on the origin of the Moldavians, with the sense “proof, argument”.^[7] The DLR and MDA2 quote him: „Cine au fost la Italia, să vază pre italiiani, ... nu-i va trebui mai mare dovadă, să crează că un neam sânt cu moldovenii” “Whoever has been to Italy and seen the Italians will need no greater proof to believe that they are one people with the Moldavians”.^[2][3] Tiktin's first record is in Cantemir's Divan of 1698.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From “proof, evidence” the word came to mean a testimony or sign of something, as in dovezi de iubire “tokens of love”.^[12][3] In law it is the proof brought before a court, and a face dovadă was “to make good a claim before a judge”.^[3][4] A written proof became a document: a certificate or receipt, and in particular the signed note that one has received a summons.^[4][13][5] MDA2 also records a regional sense “witness”, the sense of the old derivative dovadnic (1726–1729).^[3][7]

The phrases ca dovadă “as a proof (that)” and a da dovadă de “to show, display (a quality)” are common.^[5][14] A compound dovadă-tip, a standard certificate, appears in the press in 1970.^[15]

Timeline

• 1687–1691 – the first record, in Miron Costin.^[7][3]
• 1698 – in Cantemir's Divan.^[4]
• 1726–1729 – the derivative dovadnic “witness” in an anonymous Moldavian chronicle.^[7]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses dováda with Latin demonstratio and argumentum.^[16]
• 1865 – Pisone glosses it with Latin argumentum and French preuve.^[17]
• 1970 – dovadă-tip “standard certificate” in the press.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fact or thing that shows something to be true: proof, evidence: Nu avem nicio dovadă că a fost acolo. “We have no proof that he was there.”^[5][3][1]
2. Ca dovadă or drept dovadă: as proof that, to show that.^[5]
3. A da dovadă de: to show, display (a quality or feeling): A dat dovadă de mult curaj. “She showed great courage.”^[5][3]
4. (law) proof brought before a court.^[5][3]
5. A document that certifies something: a certificate, receipt.^[5][4]

Word family

• dovadnic

Related words

• dovedi

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dovadă
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 749
4. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. dovadă
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 329
6. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. dovedi
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. dovedi
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 444
9. ^ Miklosich, Franz (1862–1865), Lexicon palaeoslovenico-graeco-latinum emendatum auctum, Vindobonae: Braumüller
10. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 404
11. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 218
13. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. dovadă
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 158
15. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. dovadă
16. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 355
17. ^ Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 118