felicita

Forms

felicita (third-person singular present felicită, past participle felicitat, third-person subjunctive felicite), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French féliciter.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The DN gives Italian felicitare as a second source,^[6] and Wikționar derives it from the Italian verb.^[7] The French verb is from Late Latin fēlīcitō.^[1]

An old variant fericita was made in the middle of the 19th century; the DA calls it a Romanianised form that did not take hold in the language, and compares ferici.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1830.^[4] Constantin Negruzzi used the old variant: „Bărbații îl fericitau, îi mulțămeau” “the men congratulated him and thanked him”.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defines the verb by Latin gratulari as “to compliment someone on something”, and conjugates it both felicit and felicitez.^[8] The second present was still used by Ibrăileanu.^[9]

The DA joins the two senses: to praise someone for a success or a happy event, and to wish him happiness for the future.^[5] The reflexive a se felicita “to count oneself happy or pleased (with a result)” is in CADE (1931) and is labelled colloquial by the DEX.^[10][2]

Timeline

• c. 1830 – first record.^[4]
• 1848 – Negulici records it, with the presents felicit and felicitez.^[8]
• mid-19th century – the variant fericita in Constantin Negruzzi.^[5]
• 1931 – the reflexive “to count oneself happy” in CADE.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To congratulate: to praise someone for a success, or to wish someone happiness on an important occasion or an anniversary;^[2][3] a gratula.^[2][3]
2. (reflexive, colloquial) To count oneself pleased or satisfied with a result or with one's conduct.^[2][3]

Word family

• felicitare

Related words

• ferici
• gratula

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 387
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 892
4. ^ 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. felicita
5. ^ a b c d e 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. felicita
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
8. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. felicitare
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească