necesita

Forms

necesita (third-person singular present necesită, past participle necesitat), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French nécessiter (“to necessitate”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Marcu and Maneca add Italian necessitare, and the DLR compares the Italian participle necessitato for the old sense “obliged”.^[6][4] The French verb is from Medieval Latin necessitō (“to oblige, compel”), from necessitās (“necessity, compulsion”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest quotation in the DLR comes from an undated Transylvanian handbook on the diseases of cattle, horses, sheep and pigs, with the participle in the sense “forced”: „Ca nu alimintre să fie necesitați sau strâmtorați de foame” “so that they may not otherwise be forced or pressed by hunger”.^[4][3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 lists the long infinitive necesitare, glossed “to oblige, to compel”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “to oblige, to compel”, was used mostly in the participle and in Transylvania; the DLR has it in a periodical as late as 1888: „Din cauza slăbiciunii am fost necesitat să zac în pai” “because of weakness I was forced to lie on straw”.^[4][3] The modern sense, “to make necessary, to require”, is used impersonally, in the third person, with a thing as subject; the DLR cites it from Pontbriant on.^[4][2] CADE (1931) still gives both senses.^[8]

Timeline

• 1848 – necesitare “to oblige” in Negulici's dictionary.^[7]
• 1862 – Pontbriant's dictionary, cited by the DLR for the sense “to require”.^[4]
• 1881 – necesitat “obliged” in a periodical.^[4]
• 1931 – CADE gives both “to compel” and “to require”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To require, to call for, to make necessary: Reparația acoperișului necesită bani mulți.^[2][3][5]
2. (obsolete, Transylvania) To oblige, to compel, mostly in the participle necesitat “forced”.^[3][4]

Related words

• necesar
• necesitate

Usage notes

In the modern sense the verb is used in the third person; the present is necesită, and the form necesitează is now rare.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 698
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, 118
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. necesita
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ 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. s.v. necesitare
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească