negativ

Forms

negativ m or n (feminine singular negativă, masculine plural negativi, feminine/neuter plural negative)^[1]

Etymology

It is a borrowing with several possible sources, as Romanian dictionaries often give for a neologism: DEX names borrowed from Italian negativo, Latin negātīvus, French négatif and German negativ.^[2][1] MDA2 gives the Latin, French and German words, the DLR only the Latin and the French, and Marcu's dictionary of neologisms puts the French first.^[3][4][5] The Latin adjective, “denying, negative”, was formed on negō (“to deny, refuse”) with the suffix -īvus.^[6][1] The French and Italian words are learned borrowings of the same Latin word, the French one from the 12th century, the Italian from the early 14th.^[7][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Gheorghe Asachi's arithmetic and algebra textbook of 1817, written for the young people of Moldavia, where numbers that follow the minus sign are called negative: „[Numerele] ce urmează sămnului «—» să numesc... negative” “the numbers that follow the sign ‘—’ are called negative”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The DLR's first quotations are mathematical (negative numbers, the minus sign called semn negativ), and soon after it was used of electricity: Leon Asachi wrote of a tree having negative electricity in it, and Stamati of the electricity of resin and hard wax.^[4] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 glosses it with the general sense “expressing a denial”.^[10]

Șăineanu (1929) and Scriban (1939) record it in grammar (a negative particle or adverb), in law (a sentence of acquittal), in algebra, in physics and in photography, where a probă negativă is a print in which black and white are reversed.^[11][12] The neuter noun negativ “photographic negative” grew out of this;^[13] DLRLC (1955–1957) has it as a separate headword.^[13] The evaluative sense “bad, harmful, lacking good qualities”, opposed to pozitiv, appears in the dictionaries of the 1950s, first of people hostile to progress.^[13][2]

Timeline

• 1817 – first record, of negative numbers, in Gheorghe Asachi's Alghebra.^[3][4]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms, “expressing a denial”.^[10]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it as German verneinend “denying”.^[14]
• 1893–1895 – in Damé's dictionary, with the adverb.^[15]
• 1929 – Șăineanu records electricitate negativă and the photographic probă negativă.^[11]
• 1955–1957 – the neuter noun negativ “photographic negative” has its own headword in DLRLC.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Expressing a denial or a refusal; that denies something: un răspuns negativ “a negative answer”.^[2][3]
2. Lacking good qualities; bad, harmful or dangerous.^[2][3]
3. (mathematics) Of numbers and quantities: less than zero, written with the minus sign.^[2][3]
4. (physics) Of electricity or an electric charge: appearing at the anode of an electrochemical generator.^[2][3]
5. (medicine) Of a test or an immune reaction: not showing the substance or the reaction looked for.^[3]

Adverb

1. In a negative way, by saying no: a răspuns negativ “he answered no”.^[3][12]

Noun

1. (photography) A negative: an image in which light and shade are the reverse of reality; by extension, the plate, film or paper bearing it.^[2][16][1]

Related words

• pozitiv
• afirmativ
• nega
• negație

Usage notes

The adjective and the photographic noun have the same plural forms in the neuter, negative; the masculine plural of the adjective is negativi.^[2][1] In printing, Marcu's dictionary also records negativ for white letters on a dark ground.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 702
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 125
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. negativ
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 424
12. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 862
13. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 186
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 411
15. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État
16. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. negativ