misiune

Forms

misiune f (plural misiuni)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French mission, borrowed from Latin missiō (“a sending”), as DEX and Wiktionary give it.^[2][1][3] MDA2 and DLR add borrowed from Italian missione and the Russian миссия (missija).^[4][5] DN compares the French, Italian and Latin forms.^[6] Tiktin gives the Latin word as an indirect source.^[7] The Latin noun is formed from mittō (“to send”) and -tiō.^[8][1] The French word was borrowed from Latin about 1350, and its modern sense “task entrusted to someone” dates from 1656.^[9] Graur puts the word in the family of the Latin verb with comisie, demisie and emisie.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Paul Iorgovici's Observații de limba rumânească of 1799.^[4][7][5]

Semantic evolution

Next to misiune the 19th century used the shorter misie: a newspaper of 1829 writes of the misia “mission” of a commander, and the same year an imperial Russian delegation at the Porte is a misii, glossed trimiteri “envoys”.^[5] Negruzzi, Maiorescu and Caragiale still wrote misie.^[5][11] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains misiune as a sending, a charge, a power given to do something.^[12] The religious sense is in Costinescu's dictionary of 1870.^[13] In the army misie was also the allowance paid to officers and officials sent to work elsewhere for a time.^[4][14]

Timeline

• 1799 – Iorgovici, the first record.^[4][7]
• 1829 – misia and misii in the press.^[5]
• 1848 – misiune in Negulici's dictionary.^[12]
• 1865 – misiunea sa conciliatrice in a document.^[5]
• 1870 – missiune, missie with the religious sense in Costinescu.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mission, a task or charge given to someone: Și-a îndeplinit misiunea cu succes.^[2][1]
2. A delegation of officials sent abroad for a purpose, usually diplomatic: misiune diplomatică “diplomatic mission”.^[2][4]
3. The spreading of Christianity in countries with another religion, the missionaries sent to do it, and their centre.^[2][4]
4. A role, a calling, a purpose in life.^[2][3]

Related words

• comisie
• Latin missiō

Usage notes

DEX gives the pronunciation in four syllables, mi-si-u-ne, and marks the variant misie as obsolete.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. 660
3. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. misiune
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 25
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. misiune
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. misiune
7. ^ 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. misiune
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mission
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
12. ^ a b 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. 264
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 103
14. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 814