major

Forms

major m or n (feminine singular majoră, masculine plural majori, feminine/neuter plural majore)^[1] MDA2 records the old variants majore and maior, a rare feminine majoară and a popular majur.^[2] Sadoveanu wrote of the senior sergeants as majurii “the majors”.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French majeur, also taken as borrowed from French major, with Latin maior (“greater”) as a further model.^{[4][2][3][5][1]} Ciorănescu takes it from the Latin comparative, in the 19th century, with the pronunciation of the French adjective.^[6] Gabinschi separates the two French words: the military term, as in stat major and sergent major, comes from the French noun, while the sense “of age” comes from the French adjective.^[7] The French adjective was borrowed from the Latin comparative in the 14th century, first as majour.^[8] The Latin word is the comparative of magnus (“great”), from *majjōs, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs.^[1][9]

It is a doublet of maior “major (the rank)”, which Graur explains through Russian, and of mai “more”, inherited from Latin magis (“more”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 has it for someone who has reached the age to enjoy his rights.^[11][2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense “of age”, the opposite of minor, came first.^[11][3] For the sense “very important, principal” DLR quotes Sadoveanu and, in 1949, the journal Contemporanul.^[3] Specialised senses came with the terms of the professions: forță majoră “force majeure” in law, termen major and premisă majoră in logic, mod major and gamă majoră in music, and the military ranks sergent major, plutonier major and locotenent major.^[3][4][12] In music it also meant “harsh, hard” in character.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1848 – “of age” in Negulici's dictionary.^[11]
• 1870 – terță majoră at cards, in Costinescu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1893–1895 – in Damé's dictionary.^[13]
• 1949 – “very important” in the journal Contemporanul.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of age: having reached the legal age for full civil and political rights; opposed to minor.^[4][2]
2. Very important, principal: o problemă majoră “a major problem”;^[5] caz de forță majoră “a case of force majeure”.^[4][2][5]
3. (logic) termen major, the predicate of the conclusion of a syllogism;^[10] premisă majoră, the premise containing it.^[4][2]
4. (military, dated) In sergent major and plutonier major, the higher grades of these ranks.^[4][2]
5. (music) In mod major and gamă majoră, a mode or scale of five tones and two semitones.^[4][2]

Noun

1. A person who has come of age.^[2][3]
2. (military) A sergeant major or a senior warrant officer (plutonier major); popularly majur.^[2][3]

Related words

• maior
• mai
• minor

Usage notes

The officer's rank “major” is a different word, maior.^[10] The verb majora, the nouns majorat and majoritate and the adjective majoritar were borrowed from French alongside it.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1421
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. major
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 612
5. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. major
6. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. major
7. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 125
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. s.v. magnus
11. ^ a b c 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. major
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 769
13. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. major