generos

Forms

generos m or n (feminine singular generoasă, masculine plural generoși, feminine/neuter plural generoase)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin generōsus (“of noble birth, noble”), taken in the 17th century, and later borrowed from French généreux as well.^[2] MDA2, DEX and the neologism dictionaries name both languages;^{[3][4][5][6][1]} Tiktin names Latin and, later, Italian generoso;^{[3][4][5][6][1]} Wiktionary gives French alone.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin adjective is formed on genus (“birth, origin, race”) with -ōsus.^[7][1] DHLF notes that the Latin word passed from good birth to noble feeling, by a common association of good stock with moral worth.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and Tiktin date the first record to Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților (1682–1686), where the word is spelled gheneros and gheneroz.^[3][6][9] Its sense there was “of noble birth, of good stock”, which the DA marks as unusual now.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 explains generosu by Latin generosus and nobilis, so the old sense “noble” was still the main one.^[10] From the 19th century, under French influence, the word means “high-minded, magnanimous” and “open-handed”: Costinescu glosses it with French généreux and Damé gives a face pe generosul “to play the generous man”.^[11][12][9] Șăineanu and CADE also have a sense of wine, “full-bodied, strong”, after French.^[13][14]

The plural generoșii was a political nickname: the young socialists who went over to the Liberal Party.^[15][3] Modern dictionaries add a figurative sense “rich, fertile” of land.^[4][16] The noun generozitate was borrowed from French générosité.^[2]

Timeline

• 1682–1686 – gheneros, gheneroz “of noble birth” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints, the first record.^[3][6]
• 1825 – generosu in the Lexicon de la Buda, glossed “noble”.^[10]
• 1870 – Costinescu gives the French senses “magnanimous, liberal”.^[11]
• 1939 – Scriban records generoșii, the socialists who joined the Liberal Party.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of people and their acts) Ready to help others without self-interest; generous, magnanimous, darnic.^[4][3][1]
2. Moved by noble feelings or progressive ideas.^[4][17]
3. (figurative) rich, fertile: un sol generos “a fertile soil”.^[4][16]
4. (rare, dated) Of noble birth or good stock.^[3][9]

Word family

• generozitate

Related words

• gen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. generos
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 983
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 433
5. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. generos
6. ^ 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. generos
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. ^ a b c d 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. generos
10. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 236
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 478
12. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. generos
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 271
14. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. generos
15. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 548
16. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. generos
17. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. generos