inutil

Forms

inutil m or n (feminine singular inutilă, masculine plural inutili, feminine/neuter plural inutile)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French inutile, with Latin inūtilis (“useless”) as a second model.^[2][3][4][1] The DA describes it as a neologism after French, with the Latin word behind it;^[5][6][7] Marcu and Maneca add Italian inutile, and Scriban takes it from Latin alone.^[5][6][7] Wiktionary analyses it in Romanian as in- and util.^[1]

Latin “inūtilis” is formed from in- (“not”) and ūtilis (“useful”).^[8][1] French “inutile” is a learned loan from the Latin.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 has inutil “which serves for nothing, is good for nothing”, glossed with the older netrebuincios.^[9] MDA2's first record is Odobescu's writings, collected in 1887: „o lucrare inutilă, care nu poate da nici un rezultat practic” “a useless work that can give no practical result”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed “useless”, and the adverbial use “to no purpose, in vain” goes with it.^[2][5] The DA records the abstract noun inutilitate, taken from French inutilité, in Vlahuță and Iorga, and the participle inutilizat “unused” and inutilizabil “unusable” in Camil Petrescu.^[5]

Timeline

• 1848 – inutil in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1870 – in Costinescu's dictionary, “that serves for nothing”.^[10]
• 1887 – o lucrare inutilă in Odobescu's collected writings.^[3][5]
• 1930 – inutilizabil “unusable” in a newspaper article by Camil Petrescu.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. useless: not useful, serving no purpose; nefolositor.^[2][1]
2. (adverbial) Needlessly, to no purpose, in vain: A încercat inutil să-l convingă.^[2][3]

Related words

• util
• inutilitate
• utilitate

Usage notes

The usual stress is inutíl;^[2][7] Scriban stressed it inútil, after Latin, and called the French stress wrong.^[2][7] The DA and MDA2 record inútil as rare.^[5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 520
3. ^ 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, 1157
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. inutil
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. inutil
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. inutil
7. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 654
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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. inutil
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 558