literatură

Forms

literatură f (plural literaturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin litteratura, with French littérature as a second source: DLR, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries name both, DEX puts French first, and Tiktin gives French alone.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Scriban derived it from Latin alone.^[7]

The Latin word is formed from littera (“letter”) with the suffix -ūra and meant the use of letters, writing, then elementary instruction and learning.^[8][9] French borrowed it about 1121; its sense “body of literary works” arose only in the second half of the 18th century, and the sense “writings on a subject” followed German Literatur (1758).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is from 1800, in a Romanian translation of Millot's universal history.^[3] DLR's oldest quotation, from Molnar, speaks of choosing “the learning of literature and philosophy”, in the old sense of literary knowledge gained by study.^[2]

Semantic evolution

DA quotes a document of 1810 on “the branch of public schooling and of national literature”, and Tiktin dates the word 1814.^[11][6] In 1829 a periodical defined literature as the product of a nation's mind and learning, close to the modern sense.^[2] Negulici (1848) still gives “belles-lettres” and the knowledge of literary principles and writings beside the writings of a nation's authors.^[12] The old sense “learning, culture” is now obsolete.^[2][6]

Scriban compared literatură populară, the oral, anonymous production of the people, with English folklore.^[7] The pejorative a face literatură “to dodge the essential with fine words” is recorded in DA and DEX.^[11][4] Recent compounds include literatură-document “documentary literature”, recorded from 1974.^[13]

Timeline

• 1800 – first record, in a Romanian translation of Millot's universal history.^[3]
• 1810 – “national literature” in a document printed in the Uricariul.^[11]
• 1814 – Tiktin's first date.^[6]
• 1829 – literature as the product of a nation's mind and learning.^[2]
• 1848 – listed by Negulici.^[12]
• 1974 – literatură-document.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. literature: the art or creation whose medium is language; beletristică.^[4] Literatură populară is anonymous oral literature, literatură cultă written literature by known authors.^[4][3]
2. The body of literary works of a period, a country or a social group.^[4]
3. The written works in a field of knowledge: literatură muzicală.^[4]
4. The works on a given problem or subject; bibliografie.^[4]

Related words

• literă
• literar

Usage notes

A face literatură (pejorative) means to avoid the heart of a matter with artful phrasing.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. literatură
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1379
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 596
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. literatură
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. literatură
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 751
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c 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. literatură
12. ^ 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. literatură
13. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. literatură