magician

Forms

magician m (plural magicieni, feminine equivalent magiciană)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French magicien, adapted to a Romanian ending.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The French word, inherited from Middle French, is magique (“magic”) with the suffix -ien.^[1] Within Romanian it can be read as magic with the suffix -ian, beside magie and mag.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Costinescu's Romanian–French vocabulary of 1870 gives magicianŭ with the French magicien: one who practises sorcery, and also one whose talent produces something admirable in art.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Both senses of the first record survive: the practitioner of magie and, figuratively, an accomplished artist who achieves rare effects.^[7][2] The DLRLC of the 1950s still labelled the word a Gallicism.^[8] The stage conjuror, a scamator, is a later specialised sense that MDA2 and NODEX list.^[3][9] The feminine is magiciană.^[1][2]

Timeline

• 1870 – magicianŭ in Costinescu's Romanian–French vocabulary, the first record.^[7][3]
• 1955–1957 – labelled a Gallicism in the DLRLC.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who practises magic: a magician, a sorcerer.^[2][3]
2. A conjuror who performs tricks on stage or in the circus.^[3][9]
3. (figurative) An accomplished artist who achieves remarkable effects through his art: un magician al cuvintelor.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• magic
• magie
• mag
• vrăjitor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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
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, 1415
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. magician
7. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 56
8. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 4
9. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional