justifica

Forms

justifica (first-person singular present justífic, third-person singular present justifică, past participle justificat, third-person subjunctive justifice) first conjugation^[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin iūstificō, with French justifier as a second model.^[2][3][4] The DA calls it a neologism from Latin; the DEX, MDA2 and DILF give Latin and French, MDN, NODEX and Wiktionary French first.^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The CADE and Damé treated it as French.^[8]

The Latin verb is a word of Christian Latin, “to treat with justice, declare just”, formed on iūstus (“just”) with the verb ending -ficō;^[9] French borrowed it about 1120.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 has the long infinitive justificare, glossed as showing and proving someone's innocence.^[10] MDA2 and the DA give their first quotations from Titu Maiorescu's Critice, where Russia could “justify” the subjugation of Bessarabia.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was legal: to prove a person innocent, and reflexively to clear oneself.^[10][11] The general sense, to show that something is right, legitimate or well founded, became the main one by the end of the 19th century, as in Maiorescu.^[4][8] A sense from accounting, to prove with receipts that a sum was spent lawfully, is recorded by the DA.^[4] The derivatives justificare “justification” and justificat “justified” appear with Maiorescu too, and justificabil follows French justifiable.^[4]

Timeline

• 1848 – justificare “to prove innocent” in Negulici's dictionary.^[10]
• 1893 – Damé gives it as the equivalent of French justifier.^[12]
• late 19th century – Maiorescu's Critice, the sense “to show to be right”.^[3][4]
• 1929 – Șăineanu: to prove innocent, to legitimize, to prove the truth of a fact.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To justify: to show that something is right or legitimate; to give reasons for; îndreptăți, motiva.^[2][3][1]
2. (reflexive) To explain one's conduct; to clear oneself, a se dezvinovăți.^[2][3]
3. (transitive) To prove that sums of money or materials were used lawfully, by presenting the documents.^[2][3]
4. (transitive, dated) To prove someone innocent.^[3][11]

Word family

• justificare
• justificat
• nejustificat
• justificabil
• justificativ

Related words

• just
• justiție

Usage notes

A saying recorded by Șăineanu: scopul nu justifică mijloacele “the end does not justify the means”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 g 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. ^ a b c d e f g 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. justifica
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, p. s.v. justifica
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. justifica
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. justifica
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. justifica
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c 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. justificare
11. ^ a b c d Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 352
12. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. justifica