natural

Forms

natural m or n (feminine singular naturală, masculine plural naturali, feminine/neuter plural naturale)^[1] MDA2 lists a regional naturel, which Caragiale gives a character: „Asta este mirosul meu naturel” “that is my natural smell”.^[2][3] Tiktin records the old forms naturalnic, naturelnic, naturaliu and naturale.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nātūrālis (“natural, by birth”), borrowed from Italian naturale, borrowed from French naturel: a multiple source of Romanian lexicography: DEX and the DLR name all three, and DEX adds German Naturell.^[5][3][2][1] Tiktin names Latin, Italian and German, Ciorănescu French alone, and Scriban Latin.^[4][6][7] The Latin adjective is formed on nātūra (“nature”) with the suffix -ālis.^[8][1] The DLR ties only the noun sense “naturalness” to German, where the noun, meaning “temperament”, is a 17th-century loan from French.^[3][9]

Wiktionary notes that the word can also be analysed as from Romanian natură + -al, though it was not made that way.^[1] The noun natură is itself recorded from 1733.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the adjective to 1786, from a document he cites as BCI VIII, with the sense “of nature”.^[4] MDA2's first record is Paul Iorgovici's Observații de limba rumânească (1799), which speaks of instincturii naturalii “natural instincts”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The adverbial use followed early: Tiktin records it in 1794 in the sense “in the natural state, unadulterated”.^[4] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) has the adjective and a noun “natural disposition, temperament”.^[10] That noun, now rare, means “naturalness, simplicity”.^[5] Tiktin also records an obsolete feminine noun naturală, a kind of drawn-thread embroidery.^[4]

Modern Romanian has the full range of the Western senses: what belongs to or is produced by nature, as against the artificial; what is pure or genuine; what is unaffected; what is innate; and what is normal and to be expected.^[5][2] Set phrases include științe naturale “natural sciences”, moarte naturală “natural death”, mărime naturală “life size”, număr natural in mathematics and copil natural “child born out of wedlock”.^[5][11][7]

Timeline

• 1786 – natural in a document, the first record.^[4]
• 1794 – the adverb, in a calendar.^[4]
• 1799 – naturalii in Iorgovici's Observații.^[2][3]
• 1848 – Negulici lists it among the neologisms.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to nature; found in nature: bogății naturale “natural resources”, graniță naturală “natural border”.^[5][1]
2. Produced by nature without human intervention, not artificial; by extension, genuine, pure.^[5][2]
3. Simple and spontaneous, without affectation.^[5]
4. innate, inborn; proper to someone.^[5][2]
5. normal, in the natural order of things: moarte naturală “natural death”, mărime naturală “life size”.^[5]
6. (of a child) Born out of wedlock, illegitimate.^[5][7]
7. (mathematics) număr natural “natural number”, any non-negative integer.^[11]

Adverb

1. naturally, of course: Natural că vin și eu.^[5][12]

Noun

1. (rare, neuter) Naturalness, simplicity.^[5][12]

Word family

• naturalețe
• naturalist
• naturaliza
• naturalism
• supranatural

Related words

• natură
• Latin nātūrālis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 98
3. ^ 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. natural
4. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. natural
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 690
6. ^ 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. natură
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 852
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
12. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România