faliment

Forms

faliment n (plural falimente)^[1] MDA2 also records an old plural falimenturi.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Falliment, with Italian fallimento as a second source, as DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary give it.^[4][2][1] Tiktin, Scriban and CADE name only Italian, the DLRM only German.^[5][6][7][8] Ciorănescu takes it from Italian, partly through Modern Greek φαλλιμέντο (falliménto) or German.^[9]

The Italian noun is fallire (“to fail”) with the suffix -mento; the verb is from Latin fallō (“to deceive”).^[1][10][6] Aromanian falimentu was taken from Italian too.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1826.^[5] MDA2's first record is in Simeon Marcovici's Datoriile omului creștin (Bucharest, 1839).^[2] The sense was the commercial one, a merchant's failure to pay his debts.^[5][13]

Semantic evolution

In Italian the noun meant “fault, failing” in the 13th century and “financial collapse” from the 14th, in Giovanni Villani.^[10] Romanian took only the commercial sense;^[13][2] Costinescu in 1870 glossed it with the older bancrută and mofluzie, and the phrase a da faliment “to go bankrupt” is recorded with it.^[13][2] The figurative sense “total failure” and the use of a da faliment for any undertaking that fails are given by the DLRLC, DN and DEX.^[14][3][4] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 gives German Falliment as its equivalent.^[15]

Ciorănescu lists the derivatives falimenta “to go bankrupt” and falimentar “bankrupt”, and falit “bankrupt person”, a separate loan from Italian fallito.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1348 – Italian fallimento “financial collapse” in Giovanni Villani.^[10]
• 1826 – the first Romanian record.^[5]
• 1839 – faliment in Marcovici's Datoriile omului creștin.^[2]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary, with a da faliment.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. bankruptcy: the insolvency of a person or company, established by a court: Firma a intrat în faliment.^[4][2]
2. (figurative) Ruin, total failure.^[4][2]

Word family

• falimenta
• falimentar

Related words

• falit
• bancrută
• Italian fallimento

Usage notes

A da faliment means “to stop being able to pay one's debts” and, figuratively, “to fail, to collapse”.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 873
3. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 379
5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. faliment
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 491
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
9. ^ a b 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. faliment
10. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
12. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională
13. ^ a b c d Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
15. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic