nesimțit

Forms

nesimțit m or n (feminine singular nesimțită, masculine plural nesimțiți, feminine/neuter plural nesimțite)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ne- + simțit, the negative of simțit, the participle of simți (“to feel”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Varlaam's Cazania of 1643, with the sense “insensible, without feeling”, said of an idol: „iaste neşte lemn mort şi nesimţit” “it is a dead and unfeeling piece of wood”.^[4][2][5] Dosoftei, in his Lives of the Saints, also speaks of „idolilor muți și nesimțiți” “dumb and unfeeling idols”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “unfeeling, insensible” is now obsolete.^[4][2] A passive sense, “not felt, unnoticed”, gave the adverbial use “imperceptibly, little by little, stealthily” and the phrase pe nesimțite.^[4][5][3] Tiktin also records the sense “ill-bred, uncouth”.^[5] This sense of lacking tact, decency and good manners became the main one in the 20th century; used as a noun, the word is a term of abuse, in Camil Petrescu and Arghezi: nesimțitule!.^[4][3] A regional sense “born idiot” was recorded in Buzău county for the linguistic atlas.^[4]

Timeline

• 1643 – “unfeeling, insensible” in Varlaam's Cazania.^[4][2][5]
• 1682–1686 – „idolilor muți și nesimțiți” in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints.^[4]
• 1886 – Nesimțit “unnoticed” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[6]
• 1939 – Scriban defines it only as “not felt, not noticed”, with pe nesimțite.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lacking common sense, good manners, decency or tact; rude, inconsiderate; also of acts: showing such a lack.^[3][2][1]
2. Not felt or perceived; passing unnoticed, imperceptible; used adverbially: imperceptibly, little by little, quietly, stealthily.^[3][4]
3. (obsolete) Without feeling, insensible.^[2][4]
4. (regional) Mentally deficient from birth.^[2][4]

Noun

1. (colloquial) A boor, a person without decency or consideration; often as a term of abuse.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• nesimțire
• nesimțitor

Usage notes

DEX lists a separate neuter noun nesimțit (its nesimțit¹), of the same formation, used only in the adverbial phrase pe nesimțite “little by little, without being noticed”: Toamna a venit pe nesimțite.^[3][8] MDA2 also has a rare neuter noun “absence of any sense”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 144
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 712
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nesimțit
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nesimțit
6. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 423
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 868
8. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nesimțit 1