excepție

Forms

excepție f (plural excepții)^[1] Older texts spell the word in many ways: exțepție, escepție, escepțiune, excepțiune, eccepție, exepsie and others.^[2][3] Șincai's chronicle has escepție: „Nefiind vreo escepție sau luare afară în diplomatul țerei” “there being no exception or exclusion in the country's charter”.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exceptiō (“exception, restriction”) and French exception.^[5][3][4] DELR names the Latin noun first, as a learned loan, then the French one and Italian eccezione.^[2] Tiktin derives it from the Latin word only,^[6] and Wiktionary from the French one only.^[1] The older variants in ⟨ecc-⟩ follow the Italian word.^[4]

The Latin noun is formed on excipiō (“to take out; to make an exception”) with the suffix -tiō.^[7][1] The French word is itself borrowed from Latin.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1736.^[6] MDA2 and DLR start with the legal sense in the Rânduiala judecătorească of 1787, a law code translated for the Habsburg lands, which writes exțepție: „Jeluitul trebuie să aducă deodată toate exțepțiile (adecă arătările de împotrivire)” “the defendant must bring all his exceptions (that is, his statements of objection) at once”.^[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word entered Romanian as a law term, a defence that delays or blocks a claim without the case being examined.^[4][3] Iorgovici, Budai-Deleanu and Heliade used it for anything that departs from a general rule, the main sense today.^[4] DEX also has the legal sense of a deviation from a rule of law that the law itself allows.^[5]

Set phrases grew around it: cu excepția “except for”, fără excepție “without exception” and prin excepție “unusually”.^[2][3] De excepție “exceptional, outstanding” spread in the press of the late 20th century, after French d’exception, and was criticised as clumsy.^[8]

Timeline

• 1736 – the first record Tiktin gives.^[6]
• 1787 – exțepție as a law term in the Rânduiala judecătorească.^[2][3]
• c. 1800 – exțipălui “to raise an objection”, a Transylvanian law verb.^[2]
• 1805 – exțepțălui “to invoke an exception in a lawsuit”.^[2]
• 1845 – the adjective excepțional.^[2]
• 1866 – the verb excepționa “to except”.^[2]
• 1893 – excepționalitate.^[2]
• 1897 – excepționalism.^[2]
• 1935 – exceptabil.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An exception: a departure from a general rule; something that does not follow the norm.^[5][3]
2. (law) A deviation from a general rule of law that the law allows in particular cases.^[5][2]
3. (law) A plea raised in a lawsuit to delay the decision or to defeat the claim without the merits being examined.^[5][3]

Word family

• excepțional
• excepționalitate

Related words

• excepta
• Latin exceptiō

Usage notes

In cu excepția the noun works as a preposition: Au venit toți, cu excepția lui Mihai “Everyone came except Mihai”.^[5][9] Fără excepție means “without distinction”, and a face excepție “to be an exception” or “to make an exception”.^[5][10]

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. excepta
3. ^ 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, 851
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. excepție
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 368
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. excepție
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. excepție
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. excepție
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 232