fals

Forms

fals m or n (feminine singular falsă, masculine plural falși, feminine/neuter plural false)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin falsus (“false”), as Ciorănescu and Wiktionary give it;^{[2][1][3][4][5][6]} DEX, MDA2 and MDN add that it is also borrowed from Italian falso, and Tiktin calls it a New Latin word taken partly through other languages.^{[2][1][3][4][5][6]} DN takes the noun “forgery” from Latin falsum.^[7] The Latin adjective is the past participle of fallō (“to deceive”).^[8][9][1] It has Romance descendants in French faux, Catalan fals, Spanish falso and Portuguese falso.^[10]

The variant falș is borrowed from German falsch;^[2][1] Ciorănescu compares Czech, Polish and Russian forms after Miklosich and Berneker, and notes that the pronunciation is held to be incorrect.^[2][1] Scriban too calls it a mistake.^[11] The German adjective itself goes back through Old French fals to the Latin word.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1789.^[6] MDA2's first record is in Titu Maiorescu's Critice, from 1867 on.^[4] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 glosses it with German falsch and hinterlistig “deceitful”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The adjective covers what is untrue, mistaken, unfounded, forged or artificial, and of people, what is two-faced.^[4][3] In music it means out of tune, and it is used as an adverb: cântă fals.^[3][14] Set phrases name things that only look real: coastă falsă “false rib”, ușă falsă “dummy door”.^[3] As a neuter noun it is a legal term, the forgery of a document, with the phrase a se înscrie în fals “to challenge a document as forged”.^[15][3]

Timeline

• 1789 – the first record.^[6]
• 1867 – Maiorescu's Critice, MDA2's first record.^[4]
• 1870 – Cihac compares it with Latin, Romance and Slavic forms.^[16]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German falsch.^[13]
• 1931 – CADE lists the noun “untruth; forgery” beside the adjective and the variant falș.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. false, untrue, unfounded; only seeming real or genuine; fake, imitated, artificial: bani falși.^[3][4][1] Coastă falsă (anatomy): a false rib.^[3] Ușă (or fereastră) falsă: a dummy door or window, made only for symmetry.^[3][4]
2. Of people and their manners: two-faced, hypocritical.^[3][18]
3. (music) Out of tune; also as an adverb: Corul a cântat fals.^[3]

Noun

1. (law) forgery: altering the truth of a written document by additions or erasures, by imitating a signature or by substituting persons.^[3] A se înscrie în fals: to challenge a document in court as forged.^[3][15]

Related words

• falsifica
• falsificator
• falsitate
• falset
• falsar
• Latin falsus

Usage notes

The adjective has the plurals falși and false; the noun has falsuri.^[3] The variant falș is regarded as incorrect.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. fals
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 379
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 874
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. fals
6. ^ 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. fals
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. fals
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 491
12. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
13. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 220
14. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 242
15. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 255
16. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 87
17. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. fals
18. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. fals