naiv

Forms

naiv m or n (feminine singular naivă, masculine plural naivi, feminine/neuter plural naive)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French naïf (“naive”), with the stem taken from the feminine naïve, which gives the Romanian word its final /v/.^[2][3][4][1] DN and MDN, the dictionaries of neologisms, also name French as the source.^[5][6] The French word developed by regular sound change from Latin nātīvus (“native, natural, inborn”), a derivative of nāscor (“to be born”).^[7][1] Scriban linked it with the Latin word and with Italian nativo and Spanish nativo.^[8]

Romanian thus has a doublet: nativ, borrowed from the Latin form, beside this word, borrowed from its French descendant.^[1][9] Gabinschi describes it as one of the European loanwords of French origin, found also as English naive, German naiv and Russian наивный (naivnyj).^[9] The noun naivitate was borrowed separately, from French naïveté.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1832, in Golescu's Condica.^[10] The first quotation in the DLR and MDA2, from a text of 1836, already has the modern sense of artless, unaffected wonder: „naiva înminunare a școlarilor” “the naive wonder of the schoolboys”.^[11][4] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) glossed it as natural, without artifice or cunning, not feigned or lying.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The word at first praised simplicity and sincerity: the early dictionaries of Negulici and Costinescu define it as natural, free of artifice and of deceit.^[12][13] In the 19th-century quotations of the DLR it describes feelings and manners, from Heliade's natural beauty to Russo's naive astonishment.^[11] A disparaging sense grew beside it: Șăineanu's dictionary of 1929 adds a speaker who says foolish things that would be better left unsaid, and Scriban defines a credulous, inexperienced, rather simple person, with the phrase a face pe naivul “to play the innocent”.^[14][8] Modern dictionaries keep both senses, labelling the second pejorative.^[3][4]

In the 20th century the word became a term of art criticism: pictori naivi are painters, often self-taught, who ignore perspective, anatomy and the rules of proportion and draw on folk painting, and artă naivă is the art they make.^[3][4][5]

Timeline

• 1832 – first record, in Golescu's Condica.^[10]
• 1836 – „naiva înminunare a școlarilor” in a text quoted by the DLR.^[11][4]
• 1848 – entered in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[12]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary spells it naïvŭ, glossed with French naïf.^[13]
• 1929 – Șăineanu adds the disparaging sense and the noun use for the naive in art and literature.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. naive, artless: simple, natural, sincere and trusting through lack of experience or guile.^[3][4]
2. (pejorative) lacking mature judgement: credulous, simplistic, childish.^[3][6]
3. (art) of a painter, often an amateur, who ignores perspective and proportion and draws on folk art.^[3][4] Artă naivă is naive art.^[3][4]

Word family

• naivitate

Related words

• nativ
• French naïf

Usage notes

The word is often used as an adverb (a întrebat naiv “she asked naively”) and as a noun (un naiv “a naive person”).^[3][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. naiv
3. ^ 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. 688
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 93
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. naiv
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. naiv
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 849
9. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 132
10. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. naiv
11. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. naiv
12. ^ 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. naiv
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 132
14. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 417
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 158