literalmente

Etymology

It is borrowed from French littéralement, according to DEX, Marcu and Maneca, Marcu, NODEX and the dictionary of French loanwords.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} According to the DLR and MDA2 it is also borrowed from Italian letteralmente.^[7][8] In Romanian it can be analysed as literal with the ending -mente.^[6] The French adverb is formed from littéral with the suffix -ment.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in our sources is Barițiu's Hungarian–Romanian dictionary of 1869, which renders Hungarian betű szerint “by the letter” with după litera, la litera and literalmente.^[9] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 glosses it “letter for letter, word for word”, with the synonym literalicește and French littéralement.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The adverb first meant “to the letter, word for word”, of a translation or a text: Hasdeu wrote that the Turkish name of Wallachia, Karaflak, translates literally as “Black Vlach”.^[10][7] By extension it came to mean “absolutely, strictly, utterly”, an intensifier: Eminescu wrote that the village people literally had nothing to eat.^[7] DEX gives both senses, “in the strict sense of the word” and “altogether, completely”;^[1][8] MDA2 labels the word bookish.^[1][8]

Timeline

• 1869 – literalmente in Barițiu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it “letter for letter, word for word”.^[10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. literally: in the strict sense of the word, exactly, to the letter.^[1][8][4]
2. (as an intensifier) Altogether, utterly: Sala era literalmente plină. “The hall was literally full.”^[1][7]

Related words

• literal
• literă

References

1. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 596
2. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. literalmente
3. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. literalmente
4. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. literalmente
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. literalmente
6. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. literalmente
8. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1379
9. ^ a b Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 45
10. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 42