modern

Forms

modern m or n (feminine singular modernă, masculine plural moderni, feminine/neuter plural moderne)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French moderne, a neologism of the 19th century.^[1][2][3][4] DEX 2009 adds Italian moderno as a second source, and the MDN names French, Italian and Latin modernus together, while MDA2 and the DLR compare the Latin word only.^[5][6][3][4] Scriban derived it straight from the Latin.^[7]

The French word was taken from Late Latin modernus (“recent, of today”), formed on the adverb modo (“just now, lately”) after hodiernus (“of today”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1829: a writer said that the Moors of Spain carried the torch of ancient civilisation „în vremile cele moderne” “into modern times”, and explained the new word in brackets as „după urmă sau noi” “later or new”.^[4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

In 1848 Negulici's dictionary still glossed it with native words, “new, recent, of now”.^[9] It was set against vechi and antic: Heliade wrote that modern verse is measured by syllables, and a text of 1832 speaks of „obiceiurile cele moderne (din ziua de astăzi)” “modern customs (of today)”.^[4]

Set phrases came with the school and the history book: limbă modernă “a living language”, istoria modernă “modern history”, first the period from 1453 to 1789, later the one from 1789 on, and învățământ modern, secondary teaching built on modern languages.^[3][7][10] From the sense “up to date” comes “fashionable”.^[5][11] Used as a noun in the plural, modernii are the moderns, as against anticii.^[7][3]

Timeline

• 1829 – vremile cele moderne “modern times”, the first record.^[4][3][2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1870 – modernŭ in Costinescu's dictionary.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Belonging to the present age or the recent past; new, recent; in step with current progress and different from tradition: limbă modernă “a living language”, epocă modernă “the modern age”.^[5][3][1]
2. In keeping with the fashion of the day; fashionable.^[5][11]
3. Of teaching and schools: centred on modern languages and the humanities.^[3][11]

Noun

1. (in the plural) The moderns: the people of today, as against the ancients.^[3][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. modern
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 38
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. modern
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 665
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. modern
7. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 825
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ 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. s.v. modern
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 645
11. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. modern
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 109