familiar

Forms

familiar m or n (feminine singular familiară, masculine plural familiari, feminine/neuter plural familiare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French familier and directly borrowed from Latin familiāris (“of the household; intimate”), as DEX, MDA2 and the dictionaries of neologisms give it.^[2][3][4][5] The DA calls it a neologism after French, with the Latin word beside it, and Wiktionary names only French.^[6][1] The unadapted French form ⟨familier⟩ was used early in the 19th century.^[6]

The Latin adjective is formed on familia (“household”) with the suffix -āris.^[7][1] The French word is a refashioning, about 1240, of Old French famelier (c. 1155).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to 1839, in Marcovici's Datoriile omului creștin (Bucharest), where the mother of a family „nu se abate cu slugile în vorbiri proaste sau familiere” “does not stoop to coarse or familiar talk with the servants”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The DA gives the sense “of the family”, as in afaceri familiare “family business”, then “informal, as within the family”, used of letters, manners and style, and “well known, habitual”.^[6] When familiarity is out of place it means “disrespectful”.^[6][3] The word is also used as an adverb, “in a familiar way”.^[6] Of language it now means “colloquial”: stil familiar, expresii familiare.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1839 – the first record, in Marcovici's Datoriile omului creștin.^[3][6]
• early 19th century – the French form familier in Romanian use.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of language or style) colloquial, close to everyday speech; plain, unpretentious.^[2][3]
2. (of behaviour, and so of people) Simple, friendly, informal; by extension, lacking proper respect.^[2][3]
3. Well known to someone, usual: un chip familiar.^[2][5]

Related words

• familie
• familiaritate
• Latin familiāris

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 380
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 874
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. familiar
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. familiar
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. familiar
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 256