englez

Forms

englez m or n (feminine singular engleză, masculine plural englezi, feminine/neuter plural engleze)^[1] The oldest form is inglez (c. 1660), still in Neculce: „solul Inglezului” “the Englishman's envoy”;^[2][3] anglez followed French.^[2][3] An old spelling is engles, and an old plural of inglez is ingleji.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek Εγγλέζος (Englézos) and Italian inglese.^{[2][5][4][6][1]} DER and CADE name only the Italian word, and MDN the Italian and French anglais;^[7][8][9][2] DELR takes the old variant inglez from Italian and anglez from French.^[7][8][9][2]

The Greek word goes back to Byzantine Greek Ἀγγλέζος (Anglézos), formed on the ethnic name Modern Greek Άγγλος (Ánglos) under the influence of the Italian word.^[10][1] The Italian word is from Old French engleis, from Old English Engle (“the Angles”).^[11][2] DELR ends the chain at Latin Angli, the Angles, a West Germanic people who settled in eastern Britain in the 5th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is inglez in the Romanian Hronograf of about 1660; the form englez appears in 1779 in a translation of Oxenstierna.^[2] Tiktin dates it to about 1743, in Neculce's chronicle.^[6] MDA2's first record is the code of laws of Catherine II, translated in 1773: „moșiile englezului” “the Englishman's estates”.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

The noun named a person of England and, in the plural, the English people;^[12] Radu Popescu's chronicle records the death of King George, „craiu al englezilor” “king of the English”.^[12] As an adjective it means “of England, English”, and in the feminine, used as a noun, engleza is the English language.^[5][2] In music, corn englez is the cor anglais.^[2]

Colloquial phrases play on the image of the English: a face pe englezul “to pretend not to understand”, and in slang englez is a man who understands nothing or a cool, phlegmatic one.^[4][7] A o șterge englezește “to leave without saying goodbye” follows French à l'anglaise.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1660 – inglez in the Hronograf, the first record.^[2]
• 1693 – the adjective inglizesc “English”.^[2]
• c. 1743 – Neculce's chronicle.^[6]
• 1773 – englezului in the translated code of Catherine II.^[4]
• 1779 – the form englez in a translation of Oxenstierna.^[2]
• 1794 – the adverb englizește “in English”.^[2]
• 1839 – englezoaică “Englishwoman” in Vaillant's vocabulary.^[2]
• 1878 – the verb englezi “to anglicise”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An Englishman; a person of England, or by extension of Great Britain; in the plural, the English people: Un englez a venit să studieze limba română.^[5][4]
2. a face pe englezul: to pretend not to understand.^[4]
3. (slang) A person who understands nothing; a phlegmatic, unconcerned person.^[7]

Adjective

1. English, of England or the English; by extension British: literatura engleză.^[5][4]
2. engleza (feminine, used as a noun): the English language: Vorbește bine engleza.^[5][13]
3. corn englez: the cor anglais, a double-reed woodwind like the oboe, a fifth lower.^[2]

Word family

• anglaise
• englezesc
• englezește
• englezoaică

Related words

• Italian inglese

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 l m n o p q r 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. englez
3. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 469
4. ^ 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, 813
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 354
6. ^ 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. englez
7. ^ a b c d 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. englez
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. englez
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. englez
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. englez
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 213