nenorocit

Forms

nenorocit m or n (feminine singular nenorocită, masculine plural nenorociți, feminine/neuter plural nenorocite)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ne- + norocit (“fortunate”), the old adjective with the negative prefix, as the DLR and Tiktin analyse it.^[2][3] DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary take it instead as the past participle of the verb nenoroci “to make unhappy”, which DEX derives from nenoroc “misfortune”.^[4][5][1] MDA2's own entry for the verb calls it a back-formation from the adjective, and the verb is recorded only from 1836, well after the adjective.^[5][6] All of them go back to noroc “luck”, from Old Church Slavonic нарокъ (narokŭ).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1698, in a work of Cantemir, with the sense “unhappy, unfortunate”.^[3] MDA2's first record is the Moldavian translation of Critil și Andronius from Greek, printed at Iași in 1794.^[5] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 glosses it Latin infortunatus, infelix, Hungarian szerencsétlen and German unglücklich.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Used of people, it is “unlucky, unhappy, suffering”, and as a noun “a wretch”.^[2][4] Used of situations it became “pitiable, sad” and then “poor, miserable”.^[4][5] A further sense, “disastrous, ill-fated” (an undertaking, a speculation), is in Șăineanu and Scriban.^[10][11] The same dictionaries record it as a term of abuse, “wretch, scoundrel”;^[10][11][1] Wiktionary also labels the noun as a vulgar “bastard”.^[10][11][1]

Timeline

• 1698 – first record, in Cantemir.^[3]
• 1794 – in the Iași translation of Critil și Andronius.^[5]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[9]
• 1836 – the verb nenoroci “to make unhappy”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of people) unfortunate, unhappy; suffering a great misfortune.^[4][5]
2. (of situations) Pitiable, sad; wretched, poor.^[4]
3. Disastrous, ill-fated: o idee nenorocită “a disastrous idea”.^[4][5]
4. Worthless, despicable.^[4]

Noun

1. An unfortunate person, a wretch.^[4][1]
2. (derogatory, vulgar) A scoundrel, a bastard.^[4][5][1]

Related words

• noroc
• nenoroc
• nenoroci
• norocit
• nenorocire

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nenorocit
3. ^ 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. nenorocit
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 707
5. ^ 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, 135
6. ^ 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. nenoroci
7. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. noroc
8. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 721
9. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 434
10. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 427
11. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 866