maiestate

Forms

maiestate f (plural maiestăți)^[1] The variant majestate is also standard; the 18th century used a masculine maiestat: „Prea-înalta voie a chesaro-crăiescului maiestat” “the most high will of the imperial and royal majesty” (1783).^[2][3] Older and popular forms include măiestate, regional maiestată and an old maiastat.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin maiestās (“greatness, dignity, majesty”), a neologism with French majesté as a second source.^[2][3][5] MDA2 adds German Majestät as a third model.^[4] The Latin noun is formed on the stem of maior (“greater”) with the suffix -tās.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Corbea's Psalter of about 1705.^[5] MDA2 and the DLR start with a document of 1783 that speaks of the will of the “imperial and royal majesty”, the Habsburg emperor, with the masculine form maiestat.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word named the sovereign himself, and sovereign power: a Transylvanian text speaks of the majesty of the apostolic crown of Hungary.^[3] As a title of address, Maiestatea Sa “His/Her Majesty”, it is quoted in the plural măiestățile sale in 1829.^[3][2] The sense “grandeur, solemn dignity”, of nature or a building, appears in the writers of the 19th century, among them Negruzzi and Alecsandri.^[7][8] Hungarian felség was glossed by it in 1869, together with the phrase crimă de lesă maiestate “lèse-majesté”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1705 – Corbea's Psalter, the first record.^[5]
• 1783 – maiestat “His Imperial Majesty” in a Transylvanian document.^[4][3]
• 1829 – the title măiestățile sale “their Majesties”.^[3]
• 1869 – lesă maiestate in Barițiu's Hungarian–Romanian dictionary.^[9]
• 1871–1876 – Laurian and Massim define it as supreme dignity, of gods first and then of rulers.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. grandeur: an imposing, solemn character or look that inspires awe and respect.^[2][4][1]
2. A sovereign, a monarch.^[2][4]
3. (followed by a possessive) A title used in speaking to or of a monarch: Maiestatea Sa “His/Her majesty”.^[2]
4. (obsolete) Supreme power, sovereignty.^[4][3]

Related words

• maiestuos
• major
• maxim

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 612
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. maiestate
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, 1420
5. ^ 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. maiestate
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 7
8. ^ a b Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. maiestate
9. ^ a b Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 172