națiune

Forms

națiune f (plural națiuni)^[1] Old texts also have nație and the neuter națion: „alte vrednice cărți ... acestui națion” “other worthy books for this nation” (1814).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nātiō (“birth, people”), with French nation and Italian nazione, a case of multiple etymology.^[4][5] MDA2 and DLR name German Nation instead of Italian, and DEX and DLR add Russian нация (nacija).^[3][2][4] Scriban took the variant nație from Russian.^[6] Tiktin names Latin, French and German.^[7] The Latin noun is formed on nāscor (“to be born”), so that it first meant “birth”, then “breed, people”.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a document of 1736 in Stinghe's collection.^[7] In the 18th and early 19th century the usual forms were nație and națion.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the word meant a people or stock: Maior wrote of the națioane of Transylvania, and Golescu of the Saxon nație.^[2] With the national movements of the 19th century it became the political community of the Romanians: Bolintineanu called the revolution of 1848 “the deed of the Romanian nation”.^[10] In Transylvania nație also meant the peasantry and a common man, and regional phrases such as a fi de nație rea “to be ill-natured” use it of a person's nature.^[3] The modern definition stresses a common territory, history, culture and, generally, language.^[4]

Timeline

• 1736 – the first record, in a document published by Stinghe.^[7]
• 1814 – națion “nation”.^[2]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary, with French nation and peuple.^[11]
• 1870 – Costinescu gives națiune and nație as one word.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nation: a human community united by territory, a shared historical and cultural identity, and generally by language and religion.^[4][3]
2. (dated) A people; a nationality.^[3]
3. (regional, Transylvania, in the form nație) The peasantry; a common man, a peasant.^[3]

Related words

• nație
• naște
• nat

Usage notes

Nație is the older variant, now dated.^[4] It survives in regional phrases: de nație “of humble birth”, a fi nație blagoslovită “to be a good, gentle person”.^[3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. națiune
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 99
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 691
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. națiune
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 852
7. ^ 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. națiune
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. nātiō
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. natio
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 163
11. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 461
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 136