neplăcut

Forms

neplăcut m or n (feminine singular neplăcută, masculine plural neplăcuți, feminine/neuter plural neplăcute)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ne- + plăcut (“pleasant”), the negative of plăcut.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of plăcea (“to please”), of which it negates the participle.^[5] That verb is inherited from Latin placeō (“to please”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record found is the Bucharest Bible of 1688, where the plural neplăcute occurs in Ezekiel 5:11.^[6] Tiktin dates it to 1698, in Cantemir's Divanul.^[7] The DLR's first quotation, from Radu Greceanu, calls something “very unpleasant both to God and to men”: „lucru foarte neplăcut și lui Dumnezeu și oamenilor”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has kept the sense “not to one's liking, disagreeable”, the plain negative of plăcut.^[3][2] Klein's dictionary of 1801 renders it with Latin ingrātus, and the Lexicon de la Buda (1825) with the same word and iniūcundus, Hungarian and German equivalents.^[8][9] The DLR and DEX add the extended sense “embarrassing, awkward”.^[3][2] The noun neplăcere “displeasure” is recorded from 1814.^[4]

Timeline

• 1688 – the plural neplăcute in the Bucharest Bible (Ezekiel 5:11).^[6]
• 1698 – neplăcut in Cantemir's Divanul.^[7]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary renders it with Latin ingratus.^[8]
• 1814 – the noun neplăcere in Țichindeal's fables.^[4]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda gives it with Latin, Hungarian and German equivalents.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not to one's liking, not suiting a person's taste or wishes; causing displeasure; unpleasant, disagreeable: o veste neplăcută “unpleasant news”.^[2][4]
2. By extension, embarrassing, awkward, annoying.^[2][4]

Word family

• neplăcere

Related words

• plăcea
• displăcut

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 709
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. neplăcut
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 139
5. ^ a b 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. plăcea
6. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ezek 5:11
7. ^ 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. neplăcut
8. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 405
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. 435