motiv

Forms

motiv n (plural motive)^[1]

Etymology

It is a neologism with several models: borrowed from French motif, with Italian motivo and German Motiv as further models.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin names only the Italian word, while Marcu and Maneca also name the adjective Latin mōtīvus (“that sets in motion”).^[6][7]

All three go back to this adjective, a Late Latin word, from moveō (“to move”).^[8][9] The French noun is the old adjective used as a noun from the 14th century, first “a reason for acting”, its artistic sense came from Italian, in music in 1703 and in painting in 1824.^[8] The Italian word, from Medieval Latin motivum, had the musical sense by the early 18th century.^[10][11] The German word, “motive”, is from the 16th century and took the artistic sense from Italian and French.^[9][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Micu (1799), in the sense “reason, ground”.^[6] MDA2 and the DLR start with Stamati's dictionary of technical and difficult words (Iași, 1851).^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word came in with the sense “reason, motive” and soon formed the phrases fără motiv “for no reason”, pe motiv că “on the ground that” and a da cuiva motiv “to give someone grounds”.^[4][2] In the 19th century it could also mean “occasion, opportunity”, a sense now obsolete.^[4][3]

The artistic senses came with the music and art vocabulary of the 19th century: Odobescu used it of a recurring fanfare in an overture, and by 1886 Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary glosses it both as Beweggrund “motive” and Thema.^[4][13] It then spread to the decorative arts and to literature, where it means a theme or leading idea.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1799 – first record, in Micu.^[6]
• 1851 – in Stamati's dictionary of difficult words.^[3][4]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it with îndemn, cauză and pricină.^[14]
• 1886 – Barcianu has both “motive” and “theme”.^[13]
• second half of the 19th century – the sense “occasion” in the Uricariul collection.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A reason or motive: the ground for an action, or the impulse that drives someone to it: N-avea niciun motiv să plece., fără motiv “for no reason”, pentru motivul că “because”.^[2][1]
2. A pretext: pe motiv că “on the pretext that”, a da cuiva motiv să… “to give someone grounds to…”.^[2]
3. (obsolete) An occasion, an opportunity.^[4][3]
4. (music) A motif: the smallest musical unit, from whose development a theme grows, a tune.^[2]
5. (art) A pictorial, sculptural or embroidered element used in a decorative or architectural composition: motive florale.^[2]
6. (literature) The leading idea or main theme of a work.^[2]

Related words

• motiva
• motivație
• mobil
• French motif

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 677
3. ^ 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, 64
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. motiv
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. motiv
6. ^ 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. motiv
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. motiv
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
13. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 393
14. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 120