morală

Forms

morală f (plural morale)^[1] The first records have a neuter moral, plural moraluri: „Învățături despre moral, adecă despre năravurile cele bune” “teachings about morals, that is, about good manners” (1802).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French morale.^{[4][3][2][5][6][1]} It is also borrowed from Latin mōrālis (“moral”): DEX, NODEX, MDA2 and the DLR name both sources, Tiktin, MDN and Wiktionary only French.^{[4][7][3][2][5][6][1]} The French noun is the feminine of the adjective moral, a learned borrowing from Latin.^[1] Cicero formed the Latin adjective from mōs (“custom, manner”) and the suffix -ālis to translate Ancient Greek ἠθικός (ēthikós), using it of the part of philosophy concerned with conduct.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a calendar of 1802, in the neuter form moral and with the sense “morals, good manners”: „Învățături despre moral, adecă despre năravurile cele bune”.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The neuter moral and the feminine morală ran side by side in the first half of the 19th century: Golescu writes „Moralu este știința năravurilor” “morals are the science of manners”, and a school regulation of 1828 lists moralul among the subjects to be taught, while Pann already has morala.^[2] The sense “ethics as a discipline” and “a book of ethics” appears with them;^[2][10] Negulici (1848) defines it as the science of morals and of our duties to others and to ourselves.^[2][10]

The moral of a story is also old: Țichindeal speaks of the teaching found „în moralul fabulelor” “in the moral of fables”, and a newspaper of 1835 says that the audience takes in the moral of a comedy with pleasure.^[2] The familiar sense “a scolding”, mostly with a face, is in Negruzzi, Caragiale and G. Călinescu: „i-a făcut o morală aspră” “gave him a harsh lecture”.^[2][11] The feminine form prevailed and the neuter is now obsolete.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1802 – the neuter moral “morals” in a calendar, the first record.^[2][5][3]
• 1828 – moralul as a school subject in a regulation.^[2]
• 1835 – morala “the moral” of a comedy in a newspaper.^[2]
• 1848 – Negulici defines morală as the science of morals.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Morality, ethics: the beliefs, principles and rules that govern how people behave towards one another and towards society, upheld by conscience and public opinion.^[4][3]
2. Ethics as a discipline; a treatise or textbook on it.^[4][3]
3. The moral of a story, especially of a fable.^[4][3]
4. (colloquial) A lecture, a scolding: Mama i-a făcut morală pentru notele proaste.^[4][6]

Related words

• moral
• moralitate
• Latin mōrālis

Usage notes

A face (cuiva) morală means “to lecture someone”, and morala fabulei “the moral of the fable” is also said of a lesson drawn from life.^[2][11] The feminine of the adjective moral has the same form.^[4]

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 l m n Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. morală
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, 53
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. 673
5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. morală
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. morală
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. morală
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ 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. morală
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, 125