inamic

Forms

inamic m (plural inamici)^[1] The older form is inimic, closer to Latin; Șincai also has nemic, after Italian: „Văzându-l că se alcătuiește cu Muscanii și cu alți nemici” “seeing him come to terms with the Muscovites and other enemies”.^[2][3] MDA2 lists inemic and înimic as further variants.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin inimīcus (“unfriendly, enemy”), first as inimic and later remade after amic (“friend”).^[5][3][2][1] According to the DA, the remade form was common in military language and spread from there into popular speech here and there.^[2] The form nemic follows Italian nemico.^[2][3] Marcu's dictionary says it was formed after the Latin word.^[6]

The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and amīcus (“friend”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1812, in Șincai's chronicle, with the old forms inimic, inemic and nemic.^[3] MDA2 cites the same work in its edition of 1853.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 lists it as an adjective and glosses it with the native vrăjmaș.^[8] Costinescu in 1870 gives it as adjective and noun, “enemy”.^[9] Eminescu still writes the older form: „Măști râzânde puse bine pe-un caracter inimic” “laughing masks well set on a hostile character”.^[10][3]

The usual modern form became inamic, and DEX marks inimic as obsolete.^[5] In current use the main sense is military, the enemy state and its armed forces in a war, with the everyday enemy as an extension.^[5] In prison slang inamic meant a policeman.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1812 – first record, as inimic, inemic and nemic, in Șincai's chronicle.^[3]
• 1848 – listed by Negulici as an adjective.^[8]
• 1870 – adjective and noun in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's dictionary, glossed Feind and feindlich.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The enemy in a war: the hostile state, and by extension its armed forces and citizens.^[5]
2. An enemy in everyday life, a dușman or foe.^[5][4]

Adjective

1. Belonging to the enemy state or its citizens: trupe inamice “enemy troops”.^[5]
2. hostile, unfriendly.^[5][4]

Related words

• amic
• dușman
• vrăjmaș
• Latin inimīcus

Usage notes

The feminine is inamică, the plurals inamici and inamice.^[5] The everyday words for “enemy” are dușman and vrăjmaș.^[4][13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. inimic
3. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. inamic
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1123
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 497
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. inamic
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. inamic
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 535
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 503
11. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. inamic
12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 276
13. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. inamic