miracol

Forms

miracol n (plural miracole)^[1] Dosoftei has the older form mirac with the plural miracuri: „Cu minuni și cu miracuri” “with wonders and with miracles”.^[2] Negruzzi mocks writers who would never say miracul and văl, found in the old books: „n-ar zice, doamne ferește! miracul și văl” “they would not say, God forbid, miracul and văl”.^[3] The DLR also records mirăcole in Aristia and a rare masculine plural miraculi in Negulici.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mīrāculum (“a marvel, a wonder”), with Italian miracolo and French miracle as further models.^[4][5][3][6] Tiktin names Latin and Italian,^[2] Wiktionary Italian or French.^[1] An older form mirac was used in the 17th century.^[2]

The Latin noun is formed on mīror (“to wonder at”) with the suffix -culum;^[7][1] it first meant an amazing object or sight.^[7] The religious sense of a divine wonder developed in Church Latin, and French borrowed the word with it in 1050.^[8] The Italian word is recorded before 1292.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Latin–Romanian glossary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, of about 1670, with the form mirac.^[2] The modern form miracol entered with the neologisms of the 19th century: MDA2's first record is Negulici's vocabulary of 1848, which has miracul.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The word stood beside the inherited minune, which dictionaries use to define it.^[4][10] From the supernatural event it widened to any astonishing fact; the DLR quotes Filimon on the miracles music has worked, and Hasdeu calls it a miracle that the Basarab princes beat the Hungarian kings.^[3][5]

Following French, it also names a medieval play on a religious or historical subject in which Christian wonders take place.^[5][11][8]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – mirac in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[2]
• 1848 – miracul in Negulici's vocabulary.^[5][2]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it simply as minune.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A miracle: a supernatural event; a wonder.^[4][5]
2. By extension, an astonishing, extraordinary fact or thing.^[4][12]
3. A miracle play: a medieval drama on a religious or historical subject.^[5][6]

Related words

• minune
• Latin mīrāculum

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. miracol
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. miracol
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 659
5. ^ 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. 2, 22
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. miracol
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 401
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. miracol
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. miracol