nedrept

Forms

nedrept m or n (feminine singular nedreaptă, masculine plural nedrepți, feminine/neuter plural nedrepte)^[1] Old texts write nederept and nedirept.^[2][3] The Codicele Voronețean renders 1 Peter 3:18 as „Că Hs. dinrăoară de păcate dereptu noi chinui, dereptul, dereptu nederepți”, “for Christ also once suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust”.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ne- + drept.^[5][6][2][1] The adjective drept is inherited from Latin dērēctus (“straight”), a form of dīrēctus.^[7][8] The grammatical sense “indirect” follows the Latin term (complementum) indirectum.^[3]

Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian formed the same word: Aromanian nidreptu and Megleno-Romanian nidrept.^[3][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, as nederept (Psalm 42:1), the source DELR dates to about 1500.^[11][3] Coresi's psalter of 1570 has the modern form nedrept.^[12] The sense there is “unjust, unrighteous”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective is used of people who do not treat others fairly and of acts and judgements contrary to justice.^[6][5] As a noun it forms the adverbial phrases pe nedrept and older cu nedreptul “unjustly”, the latter already in Moxa.^[4][13] Old grammars called the indirect object complement nedrept and an oblique case cădere nedreaptă.^[6] The noun nedreptate “injustice” is as old as the adjective.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – nederept in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[11][3]
• c. 1500-1520 – the noun nedereptate in the same psalter.^[3]
• 1570 – nedrept in Coresi's psalter.^[12]
• c. 1573-1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2]
• 1818 – the verb nedreptăți “to wrong”.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. unjust, unfair: not fair or objective towards others, or contrary to justice and the rules, also used as an adverb, as in pe nedrept “unjustly, without grounds”: A fost pedepsit pe nedrept.^[5][2][1]
2. (obsolete, grammar) Of a complement or clause: indirect.^[5][6]

Word family

• nedreptate

Related words

• drept
• dreptate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 122
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. nedrept
4. ^ 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. nedrept
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 701
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nedrept
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. drept
8. ^ 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. drept
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 763
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 206
11. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 42:1
12. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 139:1
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 185