localnic

Forms

localnic m (plural localnici)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Russian локальный (lokalʹnyj, “local”), adapted to the Romanian words ending in -nic.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin compares Polish lokalny as well,^[5] and the CADE also gives the Russian source.^[6] Read within Romanian, the word looks like local with the suffix,^[1] and Scriban simply sends the reader to that adjective.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and Tiktin date the first record to 1785, a document printed in the Uricariul collection.^[4][5] MDA2 places it before that year.^[4] The early uses are adjectival: a document of 1831 in the same collection speaks of matters that touch only interesuri numai localnice “purely local interests”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the first half of the 19th century the adjective meant “local, of the place”: a sinod localnic “local synod” in Săulescu, localnică cercetare “a local inquiry” in a document of 1839, and Odobescu's blajina localnică stăpânire “the mild local rule”.^[3] Used as a noun it came to mean “a local, an inhabitant of the place”: Costache Negruzzi writes of the only local who had not caught fever, and Sadoveanu of paths known only to locals and monks.^[8][9]

Damé still labelled the word old-fashioned in the 1890s,^[10] but it lived on, and modern dictionaries give the noun “person from the place” beside the adjective.^[2][11] MDA2 records the phrase a fi localnic din… “to be a native of…”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1785 – the first record, in a document printed in the Uricariul.^[4][5]
• 1831 – interesuri numai localnice “purely local interests”, in a document of the same collection.^[3]
• 1839 – localnică cercetare “a local inquiry” in another document.^[3]
• 1931 – the CADE gives both the adjective and the noun “inhabitant of the place”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. local: belonging to the place in question; native to a given place.^[2][4]

Noun

1. An inhabitant of the place one is speaking of; a native.^[2][9]

Related words

• local
• loc

Usage notes

The adjective and the noun have the same forms: plural localnici, feminine localnică, feminine plural localnice.^[2] A fi localnic din… means “to come from…, to be a native of…”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. 598
3. ^ 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. localnic
4. ^ 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, 1384
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. localnic
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. localnic
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 754
8. ^ 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. localnic
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 776
10. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. localnic
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 369