intimitate

Forms

intimitate f (plural intimități)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French intimité, as DEX, MDA2, MDN, CADE and the dictionary of French loanwords give it.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary adds Latin intimitās behind the French word and notes that within Romanian it can be analysed as intim with the suffix -itate.^[1] Scriban also relates it to the adjective.^[7] Laurian and Massim gave the Latin word as its model.^[8]

The French word is formed from intime with -ité.^[1] The Romanian adjective goes back to intimus (“innermost”), the superlative to interior.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862, glossed with French “intimité, liaison intime”, a close bond.^[10] Costinescu (1870) defines it as heartfelt, close friendship and boundless trust.^[11] MDA2 cites as its first record a passage of Macedonski, by a modern edition of his works.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From close friendship the word passed to the depth of a feeling or thought and to a small, family circle, as in a ceremony held in the strictest privacy.^[12][2] In the plural it means personal, private matters.^[2][12] The phrase a trăi în intimitatea cuiva “to be one of someone's close circle” is used euphemistically for living with someone as a partner.^[3]

Timeline

• 1862 – intimitate in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[10]
• 1870 – “close friendship, confidence” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[11]
• 1871–1876 – Laurian and Massim define it as the quality of being intimate, a close bond.^[8]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German “Vertrautheit, Innigkeit, Intimität”.^[13]
• 1931 – CADE gives three senses: close bond, the depth of the soul and close friendship.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. intimacy: the quality of what is intimate; a friendship based on close ties;^[2][14] a trăi (sau a fi) în intimitatea cuiva “to be one of someone's close friends”.^[2][14]
2. The depth of a feeling or a thought.^[2][4]
3. A small, family setting; privacy: Nunta s-a făcut în intimitate.^[2][4]
4. (in the plural) Personal, private matters.^[2][14]

Related words

• intim
• French intimité

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 518
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1153
4. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
6. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 653
8. ^ a b Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani
9. ^ 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. intim
10. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 557
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 536
13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic
14. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România