etern

Forms

etern m or n (feminine singular eternă, masculine plural eterni, feminine/neuter plural eterne)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin aeternus (“eternal”) of the 19th century.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The DLR and the dictionary of neologisms compare Italian eterno.^[7][8] The Latin adjective is a contraction of aeviternus, formed from aevum (“age, lifetime”) with the suffix -ternus of sempiternus.^[9][10][3] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“long time, lifetime”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is in a work of Teodorovici of 1824, and Tiktin also dates the word to 1824.^[3][6] Its sense there is the religious one, “without beginning or end”.^[3] MDA2 cites it from Bălcescu, whose writings it dates by the edition of 1878.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was religious: God is eternal, without beginning or end, as in Heliade-Rădulescu's „Dumnezeule etern!”.^[7][5] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defined it as “without beginning, without end”, glossed it with the native veșnic, and recorded Eternul as a name of God.^[11][12] Philosophers then used it of ideas and of matter, and in ordinary language it came to mean “lasting for ever, never ending” and, by exaggeration, “constantly repeated”, as in Galaction's „acest etern răsărit de soare” “this eternal sunrise”.^[7][13] Cetatea eternă “the Eternal City” is Rome.^[14][15] The adjective is often used as an adverb.^[4]

The derivatives came from French and Latin in the same decades: eternitate (1836) from aeternitas and éternité, eterniza (1848) from éterniser, and the short-lived eternel (1847) from éternel.^[3]

Timeline

• 1824 – first record, in Teodorovici.^[3][6]
• 1836 – eternitate “eternity”.^[3]
• 1847 – the French-based synonym eternel.^[3]
• 1848 – Negulici records etern and Eternul “God”;^[11][3] eterniza “to make eternal”.^[11][3]
• before 1872 – coetern “coeternal” in Heliade-Rădulescu.^[3]
• 1875 – Antonescu's dictionary translates eternu as French éternel.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Existing always, without beginning or end; eternal, everlasting; veșnic: o iubire eternă.^[4][5][1]
2. (religion) Belonging to or coming from God;^[5] viața eternă “eternal life”, the life after death.^[5]
3. Repeated constantly, never changing: eternele lui plângeri.^[13][5]
4. (often adverbially) For ever: Va rămâne etern în amintirea noastră.^[4]

Noun

1. Eternul, cel Etern: God.^[5][12]
2. Eternul feminin: the qualities thought to belong unchangingly to women.^[5]

Word family

• eternitate
• eterniza

Related words

• coetern
• Latin aeternus

Usage notes

Cetatea eternă is a fixed name for Rome.^[14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. etern
3. ^ 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. etern
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 363
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 839
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. etern
7. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. etern
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. etern
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. etern
12. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. etern
13. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 224
14. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 476
15. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 234
16. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 98