extraordinar

Forms

extraordinar m or n (feminine singular extraordinară, masculine plural extraordinari, feminine/neuter plural extraordinare)^[1] Tiktin lists the old forms estraordinar and extraordinarion.^[2] The DLR quotes ecstraordinarie from a document of 1822 and estraordinariu and straordinare from the following decades.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French extraordinaire and directly borrowed from Latin extraordinārius (“out of the common order, extraordinary”), the two sources DEX, MDA2 and Marcu name.^[4][5][6] Tiktin and Scriban give only the Latin word.^[2][7] For the 19th-century forms straordinar and straordinariu the DLR compares Italian straordinario.^[3] By surface analysis it is extra- and ordinar.^[1]

The Latin adjective comes from the phrase Latin extrā ōrdinem (“outside the order”), with extrā (“outside”), ōrdō (“order, row”) and the suffix -ārius.^[1][8] The French word was borrowed from Latin around 1265.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1715 and the sense “unusual, out of the ordinary” to 1726.^[2] The early quotations in the DLR are official and legal: orders given ecstraordinarie to the army in 1822 and an Obșteasca Adunare Ecstraordinară “extraordinary general assembly” in 1831.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, of laws, assemblies, offices and taxes outside the regular order, comes first in the DLR and survives in ambasador extraordinar and profesor extraordinar.^[3][7][10] The general sense “unusual, exceptional” led on to “strange, odd” and to praise of people of great gifts and of very good things (un vin extraordinar).^[11][12][4] As an exclamation it expresses surprise, indignation or admiration, and as an adverb it intensifies an adjective: extraordinar de sus “extremely high”.^[12][7]

Timeline

• 1715 – the first record Tiktin cites.^[2]
• 1726 – the sense “unusual, out of the ordinary”.^[2]
• 1822 – ecstraordinarie of army orders, in a document.^[3]
• 1831 – Obșteasca Adunare Ecstraordinară, an extraordinary assembly.^[3]
• 1931 – CADE labels it a French loan.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. extraordinary, quite out of the common; unusual, excepțional;^[4][1] (of people) highly gifted;^[4][1] (of things) very good: A fost o seară extraordinară.^[4][1]
2. (of laws, measures, offices, meetings) Going beyond the usual rule or schedule: ședință extraordinară “extraordinary session”.^[4][3]
3. (adverbially) Extremely, very.^[5][7]

Related words

• ordinar
• ordine

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. extraordinár
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. extraordinar
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 375
5. ^ 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, 867
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. extraordinar
7. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 487
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. extraordinar
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 240
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 245