drept

Forms

drept m or n (feminine singular dreaptă, masculine plural drepți, feminine/neuter plural drepte)^[1] The 16th-century psalters spell it derept: the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki has this form 25 times, Coresi's psalter of 1577 75 times.^[2] Dirept is the usual spelling of the Bucharest Bible of 1688, with about 400 occurrences.^[3] As a preposition the word was worn down early: old derep, often in derep ce “why”, and dipt “for” in Maramureș.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dērēctus (“straight”), a variant of Latin dīrēctus (“in a straight line, direct”) that the Romance languages share.^[4][6][1][7] Wiktionary also names the Late Latin syncopated form drictus.^[1] Pușcariu explains the ⟨e⟩ as a change of prefix.^[8] DELR adds that the Latin word, the participle of dīrigō (“to direct”), from dis- and regō (“to guide, rule”), was already confused in Latin with a verb formed with dē-, the source of drege.^[4]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian dreptu, Megleno-Romanian dirept and Istro-Romanian drept, the last only as an adverb.^[4][9][10] Its Romance cognates include Italian diritto or dritto, French droit, Occitan dreit, Catalan dret, Spanish derecho and Portuguese direito.^[6][7]

As in the other Romance languages, the word took over the senses of Latin dexter (“right (hand)”) and iūs (“law, right”).^[4][7] The legal senses of the noun follow French and Italian usage, and the political sense “the right” follows droite, from the seating of the conservatives on the right of the French National Assembly of 1789–1791.^[4][11] For the adverb and the preposition, DELR and Pușcariu also allow Latin dīrēctō (“straight, directly”).^[4][8]

Ciorănescu notes that the old Moldavian drit “right, law” is a doublet of the word, borrowed from the Italian word.^[6] Wiktionary names direct as a later, learned doublet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a place name: a stream called Dereptulu in a Slavonic charter of 1437.^[4][12] In Romanian texts the word appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, mostly as derept; the same text already has the noun dereptate “justice” and the verb derepta “to straighten, set right”.^[2][13][4] Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 uses derept for Slavonic words meaning “right-hand”, “just” and “worthy”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The physical senses “straight” and “upright, vertical” sit beside the moral ones “just, fair” and, of people, “honest, righteous”; old texts use the plural drepții for the righteous, and a dormi somnul drepților “to sleep the sleep of the just” means to sleep soundly or to be dead.^[4][15][11] Ousting Latin dexter, it also became the word for the right-hand side, with dreapta “the right hand” and dreptul “the right foot”.^[4][6] Old and popular Romanian used it of relatives by blood: frate drept “full brother”.^[15][11]

As a preposition the old language used it for “for, because of” and “instead of”, in phrases such as derept aceea “therefore” and derep ce “why”; today it survives in drept care “whereupon” and in the sense “as, by way of”.^[5][4][11] In Banat and in the Muntenian dialects it still means “in front of, level with”.^[4][16]

The neuter noun drept, plural drepturi, took the French and Italian senses “law” and “a right” in the 19th century.^[4][17] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 already glosses it with French droit.^[18] Ciorănescu records Romanian loans of the word in Hungarian and, rarely, in Bulgarian.^[6]

Timeline

• 1437 – Dereptulu, the name of a stream, in a Slavonic charter.^[4][12]
• early 16th century – derept, dereptate “justice” and derepta “to straighten” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4][2]
• 1563–1583 – dereptătoriu “guide, helmsman” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4]
• 1570 – derepție “justice” in Coresi's psalter.^[4]
• 1652 – dreptar “ruler, square”, in the law code Îndreptarea legii.^[4]
• 1688 – dirept, the usual form of the Bucharest Bible.^[3]
• 1840 – dreptaci “right-handed”.^[4]
• 1932 – dreptist “law student”; 1936 – dreptist “supporter of the political right”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. straight: going from one point to another without turning: linie dreaptă “straight line”, unghi drept “right angle”.^[11][13]
2. upright, vertical: Drepți! is the military command “Attention!”.^[11]
3. (figurative) just, fair, true; of people, honest, righteous.^[11][4]
4. (popular, of relatives) related by blood, full: frate drept “full brother”.^[11][15]
5. On the right-hand side, the side opposite the heart: mâna dreaptă “the right hand”.^[11][1]

Noun

1. (feminine, dreapta) The right hand; the right side; in politics, the right wing.^[11][4]
2. (neuter, plural drepturi) law: the body of legal rules of a state; the science of law: drept penal “criminal law”.^[11][1]
3. (neuter) A right, a power or claim the law recognises: de drept “by right”.^[11][4]
4. (neuter) A payment due to someone for work done.^[11]

Adverb

1. Straight, directly: Merse drept spre casă. de-a dreptul “straight, outright”.^[11]
2. Exactly, just: A căzut drept la picioarele mele.^[11]
3. Truly, honestly: a spune drept “to tell the truth”.^[11][1]

Preposition

1. As, by way of, instead of: drept plată “as payment”, and drept care “whereupon, therefore”.^[11][19]
2. (regional) In front of, level with.^[11][4]
3. For, as a purpose: drept încercare “as a trial”.^[11]

Word family

• dreptaci
• dreptar
• dreptate
• dreptist
• îndrepta
• îndreptar
• îndreptăți
• nedrept
• nedreptate
• dreptunghi

Related words

• drege
• direct
• Aromanian dreptu
• Latin dīrēctus

Usage notes

In slang the neuter noun, plural drepturi, also means a bribe.^[20] The phrase cu drept cuvânt means “rightly, with good reason”.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 10:8
3. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 4:7
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y 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. drept
5. ^ a b Gaster, M. (1891), Chrestomatie română: texte tipărite și manuscrise (sec. XVI–XIX), dialectale și populare, cu o introducere, gramatică și un glosar româno-francez, vol. II, Leipzig: Brockhaus / București: Socec, p. s.v. drept
6. ^ a b c d e 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. drept
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2648
8. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 48
9. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 207
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 111
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 331
12. ^ 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. drept
13. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 758
14. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. derept
15. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 447
16. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. s.v. drept
17. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 194
18. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 360
19. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 220
20. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. drept
21. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 266