inferior

Forms

inferior m or n (feminine singular inferioară, masculine plural inferiori, feminine/neuter plural inferioare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French inférieur, borrowed from Latin inferior (“lower”), a neologism of the 19th century for which the dictionaries name both models.^[2][3][4] The DA and Wiktionary take it from French, with the Latin word behind it.^[5][1] The French word was borrowed in 1461–1466 from the same Latin word.^[6] In Latin it is the comparative of inferus (“below, beneath”).^[5][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 lists inferior among the new words, as “lower, beneath; below another in office or in talents”.^[9] MDA2 and the DA cite a document from before 1859, printed in the Uricariul, which speaks of a chapel on the edge of the lower terrace.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start it had a sense of place, “lower”, and a figurative one of rank, “lower in office or merit”.^[9][5] Șăineanu and the CADE add its use for the lower course of a river, nearer the mouth, as in Dunărea inferioară “the Lower Danube”.^[10][11] Used as a noun, it means “subordinate”, and it also came to mean “of poorer quality”.^[5][2] In the old school system, curs inferior was the first four years of secondary school.^[2]

Timeline

• 1848 – listed by Negulici among the neologisms.^[9]
• before 1859 – terasei inferioare “of the lower terrace” in a document of the Uricariul.^[3][5]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it “lower; below another in rank, talent or power”.^[12]
• 1929 – Șăineanu records the sense of the lower course of a river.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. lower: placed below or lower down; of a river or a region along it, nearer the mouth than the source.^[2][3]
2. Smaller in number than another.^[2][3]
3. Of lower rank, office or grade; used as a noun, a subaltern, a subordinate.^[2][3]
4. Of poorer quality or smaller value than another: o marfă inferioară.^[2][5]

Related words

• superior
• infim
• Latin inferior

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 506
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, 1135
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. inferior
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 639
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 323
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci