istoric

Forms

istoric m or n (feminine singular istorică, masculine plural istorici, feminine/neuter plural istorice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin historicus (“historical”), with French historique and Italian istorico as models, the three sources DEX and MDA2 give.^[2][3] Ciorănescu separates the noun from the adjective: the noun “historian”, in use since the 17th century, from Latin, and the adjective from French.^[4] Tiktin gives Greek and Latin, and Scriban Ancient Greek ἱστορικός (historikós) and Latin.^[5][6] The Latin adjective is historia (“history”) with -icus, modelled on the Greek adjective.^[1][7]

Older Romanian also had istoricesc and istornic, the latter with a Slavonic-looking ending that Tiktin found in no Slavic language.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Miron Costin's chronicle of 1675, with the noun “historian”: „Plutarh, vestit istoric” “Plutarch, a famous historian”.^[5] MDA2 dates the adjective to Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints, printed in Iași from 1682.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the old chroniclers the noun “historian” was the main use, beside istornic.^[5] The adjective, “of history, historical”, took several senses: belonging to the past, true as opposed to invented, important enough to enter history, and arranged in chronological order, as in metodă istorică.^[2][3][6] CADE records a sense “recent”, of a fact that happened lately.^[8]

A neuter noun means a full account of an event or of the past of an institution, as in a face istoricul unei chestiuni “to give the history of a question”.^[8][9][2]

Timeline

• 1675 – istoric “historian” in Miron Costin's chronicle, the first record.^[5]
• 1682 – the adjective, in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints.^[3]
• 1683 – the older adjective istoricesc in an Apostle of 1683.^[5]
• 1870 – istoricŭ “one who writes a history” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[10]
• 1931 – the neuter noun “account of events” in CADE.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to history; historical; by extension, of great importance, historic: un monument istoric.^[2][1]
2. Dealing with events of the past, taking history as its subject: roman istoric.^[2][3]
3. That changes in the course of time.^[2]
4. That really happened or existed, as opposed to legendary; real.^[2][3]
5. Following the chronological order of events: metodă istorică.^[2]

Noun

1. (masculine) A historian, a specialist in history or author of historical works.^[2][3]
2. (neuter) A detailed account of an event or of the past of an institution, in the order things happened; history: istoricul unei întreprinderi.^[2][8]

Related words

• istorie
• istoricesc
• preistoric
• istoriograf

Usage notes

The masculine noun istoric “historian” has the plural istorici; the neuter noun “account” has istorice.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 526
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1169
4. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. istorie
5. ^ 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. istóric
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 664
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. istoric
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 344
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 565