etică

Forms

etică f (plural etici)^[1] Early 18th-century texts also have the variants íthică (Dimitrie Cantemir, 1705) and itichí, also spelled ithichi.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ethica, the learned Latin name of the discipline, later reinforced by French éthique and German Ethik.^[2] DELR traces the Latin word to Ancient Greek ἠθικά (ēthiká), a neuter plural, and to ἠθική (ēthikḗ, “ethics”), understood with φιλοσοφία (philosophía, “philosophy”).^[2] The Greek adjective ἠθικός (ēthikós, “moral”) is derived from ἦθος (êthos, “habitual way of being, character”).^[3]

The old variants with ⟨i-⟩ follow the Greek pronunciation of the word, Modern Greek ηθική (ithikí).^[2] The dictionaries weigh the sources differently: DLRM and Wiktionary name the French word, with Latin as the learned model in DLRM, NODEX names Latin alone, and the neologism dictionary of Marcu and Maneca compares both.^[4][1][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1705, in Dimitrie Cantemir, in the variant íthică; the form etică, written ethică, occurs in Nicolae Costin's work of 1703–1709.^[2] In the old variant ithichí the word could also mean a moral quality or virtue.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) it is the science of customs, that is, morality.^[7] Barcianu (1886) glosses it with German words for the doctrine of virtue, and Șăineanu (1929) calls it the science of morals.^[8][9] The 1958 academy dictionary defined it in the terms of its time, as the study of moral principles with their historical laws and their class content.^[4] Today the word names both the philosophical discipline and a set of moral norms.^[6][5]

Romanian derived several words from it: the adverb eticește (1705, as ithicește in Cantemir) and the noun etician “ethicist” (1886), the latter perhaps also after the rare French éthicien.^[2]

Timeline

• 1703–1709 – ethică in Nicolae Costin.^[2]
• 1705 – íthică and the adverb ithicește in Dimitrie Cantemir.^[2]
• 1848 – listed by Negulici as “the science of customs; morality”.^[7]
• 1886 – etician “ethicist”.^[2]
• 1893 – eticism, in its current sense from 1925.^[2]
• 1894 – eticitate “ethical character”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. ethics: the branch of philosophy that studies moral principles, their origin, development and content.^[6][2][1]
2. The set of moral norms of conduct of a person, group or society; morală.^[5][6][1]

Word family

• etician

Related words

• etic
• Ancient Greek ἦθος (êthos)

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 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. etic
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
5. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. etică
6. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. etică
7. ^ a b 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. etică
8. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 216
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 234