mizerabil

Forms

mizerabil m or n (feminine singular mizerabilă, masculine plural mizerabili, feminine/neuter plural mizerabile)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French misérable.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} In the neologism dictionaries it is also borrowed from Latin miserābilis (“pitiable”), and Scriban and Graur derive it from the Latin word alone.^[6][7][8] French borrowed the Latin word, which is formed on miser (“wretched, poor”).^[1][8] Wiktionary notes that within Romanian it can also be read as mizer + -abil.^[1]

Graur places it in the family of the Latin adjective with the inherited mișel “base, wretched” and old measer “poor”, and the neologism mizerie.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Heliade Rădulescu, 1831; the passage the DLR and MDA2 quote speaks of a man who became „sclavul mizerabil al fratelui său însuși” “the wretched slave of his own brother”.^[5][4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word meant above all “pitiable, wretched”, of a person's material or moral condition (Kogălniceanu writes of the condițiunea mizerabilă of the Moldavian peasants), and “squalid, shabby” of places and things.^[4] The senses “worthless, of very poor quality” and “vile, a scoundrel” followed in the later 19th century.^[4][9]

The order of the senses has since been reversed: DEX puts “scoundrel” first, and the neologism dictionaries label “pitiable” rare.^[2][10] Used as a noun, un mizerabil is a villain.^[9][11]

Timeline

• 1831 – sclavul mizerabil in Heliade Rădulescu, the first record.^[5][4]
• 1929 – Șăineanu gives “pitiable”, “unworthy of esteem” and, as a noun, “scoundrel”.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Vile, villainous, despicable.^[2][3]
2. Worthless; of very poor quality: o lucrare mizerabilă.^[2][4]
3. In a very bad state that deserves pity; wretched, pitiful; showing great poverty, shabby.^[2][3]

Noun

1. A scoundrel, a villain.^[2][11]

Related words

• mizerie
• mizer
• mișel
• French misérable

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. 662
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 31
4. ^ 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. mizerabil
5. ^ 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. mizerabil
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. mizerabil
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 818
8. ^ a b c Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. s.v. meserie
9. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 404
10. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. mizerabil
11. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 98