identic

Forms

identic m or n (feminine singular identică, masculine plural identici, feminine/neuter plural identice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French identique, with Medieval Latin identicus as a second source: DEX, MDN, DILF and Wiktionary give both sources,^[2][3][4][1] MDA2 names French alone,^[5] and Tiktin names the New Latin word alone.^[6] The DN compares Italian identico as well.^[7]

The French word was borrowed in 1610 from the Scholastic Latin adjective, recorded about 1300 in England,^[8] which is formed on the classical idem (“the same”).^[8][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1825.^[6] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains it as “the same: comprised under one and the same idea”, with an example about union being possible only between identical beings.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin records an obsolete variant in -cesc.^[6] The Latinist dictionary of 1870 spelled the word identicu.^[11] MDA2 dates the general sense “wholly the same as something or someone” from Titu Maiorescu's Critice (1867–1892), and lists an adverbial use, “in the same way”.^[5] Mathematics speaks of an identity function, funcție identică.^[3] MDA2 notes a popular variant with ind-.^[5]

Timeline

• 1825 – the first record, as dated by Tiktin.^[6]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1867–1892 – the general sense in Maiorescu's Critice.^[5]
• 1870 – identicu in Costinescu's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. identical: wholly the same as something or someone; aidoma, întocmai.^[2][5]
2. (mathematics) funcție identică: the identity function, which maps every element to itself.^[3]

Adverb

1. In the same way, exactly alike: Cei doi frați se îmbracă identic.^[5][12]

Related words

• identitate
• identifica
• Latin idem

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 486
3. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. identic
4. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. identic
5. ^ 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, 1104
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. identic
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. identic
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 614
10. ^ 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. identic
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 522
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. identic