legist

Forms

legist m or n (feminine singular legistă, masculine plural legiști, feminine/neuter plural legiste)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French légiste.^[2][3][4][1] MDA2 and the DLR add Italian legista and German Legist as models, and the DA called it a neologism after French, noting the Medieval Latin word.^[5][6][7] The French word, ⟨legiste⟩ before 1300, remade from Old French legistre (1210), comes from legista (“man of law”) (1188), derived from Latin lēx (“law”).^[8] The French phrase médecin légiste (“forensic doctor”) dates from 1833.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DLR's earliest example is from 1830: a periodical praises the learning of „dumisale legistului (nomicos) Hriste Flechtenmaher din Transilvania” “his honour the jurist (nomikos) Hriste Flechtenmaher of Transylvania”, who for eighteen years had given public proof of his knowledge of the laws.^[6] The Greek gloss shows that the word was still felt to need explaining.^[6] MDA2 dates the first record to Heliade's translation of Byron's Don Juan (1847), where the word means “jurist”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word meant a jurist, a person learned in the law: Negulici (1848) defines it as one who teaches, studies or knows the laws, and the DLR quotes it from Bălcescu, Barițiu, Maiorescu, Odobescu and Eminescu.^[9][6] Today this sense is rare.^[6][2] The common modern use is the phrase medic legist “forensic doctor”, the doctor who carries out the medical examinations that the courts need; the DLR quotes it from Camil Petrescu.^[6][2] In the plural it also names the Chinese Legalists of the 4th–3rd centuries BC and the jurists around the French king Philip the Fair.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1830 – legist “jurist” in a periodical, glossed with Greek nomicos.^[6]
• 1847 – in Heliade's translation of Don Juan.^[5][6]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary defines it as a jurisconsult who knows and teaches the laws.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Only in medic legist: a forensic doctor, who carries out the medical examinations the courts need; also as a noun, legistul “the forensic doctor”.^[2][6][1]

Noun

1. (now rare) A jurist, a person who knows or studies the laws.^[6][3][11]
2. (plural, rare) The Legalists, a Chinese school of philosophy of the 4th–3rd centuries BC that wanted a centralized state governed by laws rather than custom.^[6][3]
3. (plural, rare) The jurists around the French king Philip the Fair, whose doctrine strengthened the monarchy against the feudal lords and the papacy.^[6][3]

Related words

• lege
• legal

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 584
3. ^ a b c d e Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. legist
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. legist
5. ^ 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, 1341
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. legist
7. ^ 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. legist
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. legist
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 27
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. legist