justiție

Forms

justiție f (uncountable)^[1] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written жустицие.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin iūstitia (“justice, equity”), as well as borrowed from French justice.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu, DA and DN give only the Latin word, a 19th-century learned borrowing, and Tiktin says Latin, also through other languages.^[5][6][7][8] Gabinschi counts it among the European words of Latin origin, borrowed from French, German and Russian (German Justiz, Russian юстиция (justicija)).^[9] The source noun is formed from Latin iūstus (“just”) + -itia.^[1][10]

The word is a doublet of justețe, which goes back to French justesse.^[1][9] The adjective just came from French juste.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1829.^[8] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848 explains the word with the native dreptate “justice, right”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was the moral one, justice as the virtue of giving each his due, and the power to reward and punish; from it came the courts and judges that do justice.^[6][12] Costinescu (1870) already has the departamentul justiției, the ministry, and a face justiție “to carry out a sentence”.^[12] Today the main sense is the legal system: the courts and laws of a state and the state's work of settling disputes and punishing offences; the moral sense, “fairness”, comes last in DEX.^[2][3] The word also names Justice personified, a blindfolded goddess holding a balance and a sword.^[6][13]

Timeline

• 1829 – first record.^[8]
• 1848 – in Negulici's vocabulary, glossed dreptate.^[11]
• 1870 – Costinescu records the ministry of justice and a face justiție.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The judiciary: all the courts and judicial bodies of a state, its laws and the way the courts work;^[2][3] Ministerul Justiției “the Ministry of Justice”.^[2][3]
2. The state's activity of judging civil and criminal cases and settling disputes, as in a chema în fața justiției “to summon before a court”.^[2][14]
3. Justice, fairness, equity; dreptate.^[2][3]
4. (mythology) Justice personified as a goddess.^[3][6]

Related words

• justițiabil
• justițial
• justițiar
• just
• justețe
• Latin iūstitia
• French justice

Usage notes

Earlier, above all among the Romanians of Austria-Hungary, the word was also spelled iustiție;^[6][8] Tiktin also notes giustiție.^[6][8] It has no plural in the legal sense.^[1]

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. 570
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, 1296
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. justiție
5. ^ 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. just
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. justiție
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. justiție
8. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. justíție
9. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 120
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. iustitia
11. ^ 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. justiție
12. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 7
13. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. justiție
14. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. 2