național

Forms

național m or n (feminine singular națională, masculine plural naționali, feminine/neuter plural naționale)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin nātiōnālis and French national, a neologism of the late 18th century.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin names the same two sources.^[6] Scriban and the neologism dictionaries add Italian nazionale as a model, and Scriban also relates the adjective to Romanian națiune.^[7][8][1] Wiktionary gives the French, Italian and New Latin words together, and notes that the Romanian word can be analysed as from Romanian națiune + -al.^[1]

The New Latin adjective is formed on nātiō (“birth, people, nation”) with the suffix -ālis, after the modern words of the European languages.^[9] The French adjective is formed on nation.^[10] The Italian word dates from the 15th century.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a document of 1790 published by Iorga, with another in the calendar of 1794.^[6] MDA2 dates the word to Paul Iorgovici's Observații de limba rumânească (Buda, 1799), the first quotation in the DLR as well.^[3][4] From the start it described what belongs to a nation: the DLR's early quotations speak of the national language and of national culture.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the first decades of the 19th century the adjective spread with the institutions of the new national culture: the DLR quotes a national library to be founded in 1828, a national theatre and a national guard in the press of 1831, and the national school of Saint Sava.^[4] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) defined it as what is in the interest of the whole nation.^[12] Costinescu (1870) recorded set phrases taken over with their French models, such as gardă națională “national guard”.^[13]

As a noun it came to mean a citizen of a state, as opposed to a foreigner, and in the plural the citizens of a country living abroad.^[7][14] In sport the masculine noun names a player of a national team and the feminine națională the national team itself.^[8][3] The old language had several synonyms beside it that did not survive: naționalicesc, naționalnic and naționalist.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1790 – first record, in a document published by Iorga.^[6]
• 1794 – in a calendar.^[6]
• 1799 – in Paul Iorgovici's Observații de limba rumânească.^[3][4]
• 1828 – bibliotecă națională “national library” in a document of the Uricariul.^[4]
• 1831 – teatru național “national theatre” and gardă națională “national guard” in the press.^[4]
• 1848 – entry in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Belonging or proper to a nation or a state; characteristic of it, relating to it or representing it: imnul național “the national anthem”.^[2][15]
2. Set up or maintained by the state: banca națională “the national bank”.^[2][15]
3. Of cultural institutions: in which the language of the nation is spoken: teatru național “national theatre”.^[2][4]

Noun

1. (masculine, law, rare) A citizen of a state, as opposed to a foreigner.^[3][7]
2. (masculine) A player of a country's national team.^[3][16]
3. (feminine, națională) A country's national team.^[3][8]

Related words

• națiune
• Latin nātiōnālis
• French national

Usage notes

The set phrases limbă națională, the common language of all the members of a nation, and șosea națională, a main road linking a country's large towns and maintained by the central administration, are defined in the dictionaries.^[3][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 691
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, 98
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. național
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. național
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. național
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 852
8. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. național
9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. nationalis
10. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. national
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. nazionale
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. 274
13. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 136
14. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 420
15. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. național
16. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. național
17. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 670