informator

Forms

informator m (plural informatori, feminine equivalent informatoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French informateur (“informant”), one of the French loans of the 19th century.^{[2][3][1][4][5]} The Romanian word belongs with the verb informa, itself taken from informer.^[2] For the sense “informer of the Securitate”, Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words analyses it as formed from Romanian informa + -tor.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to 1875, in B. P. Hasdeu's Istoria critică a romînilor, in the sense of a person who gives exact information.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries of the late 19th and early 20th century define the word as someone who gives or gathers information.^[7][8] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 still glosses it with German words for “educator, teacher” beside “one who informs”.^[9] Scriban also records it as an adjective, “that informs”.^[10]

MDA2 lists further senses: an author from whom information is drawn, a person heard in court only to give information and not as a witness, and a spy.^[2] After 1989 the word took on a strong political sense, a person who passed information to the Securitate under the communist regime;^[6][3] Dimitrescu dates it from 1995, beside the slang synonym turnător.^[6][3] Slang has a long list of words for an informer, among them turnător, ciripitor and cârtiță.^[11]

Timeline

• 1875 – first record, in Hasdeu's Istoria critică a romînilor.^[2]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it “educator, teacher, one who informs”.^[9]
• 1995 – first record of the sense “Securitate informer” in Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An informant: a person who gives or gathers information.^[3][4]
2. (history) A person who secretly supplied information to the Securitate in communist Romania; an informer.^[3][6]
3. (law) A person called before a court only to give information, not to testify as a witness.^[2]

Adjective

1. That gives or supplies information.^[3][12]

Related words

• informa

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1136
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 507
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
6. ^ a b c d e Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 325
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
9. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 640
11. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu
12. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România