noutate

Forms

noutate f (plural noutăți)^[1] Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada has the form noătate: „Pe drum şi doao pistoale luasă, Care nu de mult, ca ş-o noătate... cumpărasă” “on the way he had taken two pistols too, which he had bought not long before, as a novelty”.^[2] A letter of 1819 has the Latinate form novitate: „Altă novitate n-am cu care să te mai ostinesc” “I have no other news to trouble you with”.^[2] MDA2 records the regional variants năotate, năutate, noătate, nootate and nouătate.^[3]

Etymology

According to DEX, DLR and MDA2, which give it several sources at once, it is borrowed from Latin novitās (“newness, novelty”), borrowed from French nouvelle (“news”) and, in DLR and MDA2, borrowed from Italian novità, the form being shaped by the Romanian adjective nou.^[4][2][3] DLR treats the sense “piece of news” as a calque on the French word.^[2] Ciorănescu leaves the choice open: it may be formed from Romanian nou + -tate, or it may continue the Latin word, in its accusative form, the view of Pușcariu and of Candrea and Densusianu.^[5] Candrea and Densusianu take it from the Latin word, with its sounds influenced by the adjective, and compare Megleno-Romanian nuutati, the Italian word and Spanish novedad.^[6] Tiktin and Scriban place it under the adjective.^[7][8] Wiktionary calls it inherited and compares Aromanian nãutati.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed novus (“new”) with the suffix -tās.^[9][1] Ciorănescu adds that an older plural novitale “the latest news”, from the Italian word, probably through Greek, was used in the 19th century and is now obsolete.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1815, in Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada, where noătate means a newly bought thing, a novelty.^[7][2] MDA2's first record is Budai-Deleanu's Romanian–German lexicon of 1818.^[3]

Semantic evolution

DLR divides the senses into the abstract quality of being new, recorded from Budai-Deleanu's lexicon and Negulici on, and the concrete senses: a new thing, recently made, found or bought, and a recent piece of news.^[2] The news sense appears in a letter of 1819 under the form novitate and in Alecsandri's question „Ce noutăți ați mai aflat astăzi?” “what news have you heard today?”.^[2] DLR and DEX give the obsolete novita and the now rare nuvelă as synonyms in this sense.^[2][4]

In the 19th and early 20th centuries the plural also named the latest goods in a shop: Costinescu (1870) glosses a negociant de noutăți as a dealer in new fashionable wares, and CADE (1931) has magazin de noutăți, a shop selling cloth and linen, and a sense for a new play much talked about.^[10][11] Pontbriant (1862) already gives the French nouveauté and nouvelle.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1815 – noătate “novelty” in Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada.^[7][2]
• 1818 – in Budai-Deleanu's Romanian–German lexicon.^[3]
• 1819 – novitate “news” in a letter.^[2]
• 1862 – Pontbriant glosses it with French nouveauté and nouvelle.^[12]
• 1870 – negociant de noutăți, a dealer in the latest wares, in Costinescu.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. newness, novelty: the quality of being new: noutatea unei idei “the novelty of an idea”.^[4][3]
2. A new thing, one recently put into circulation, discovered or acquired; in the plural, the latest goods or publications: noutățile editoriale ale lunii “the month's new books”.^[4][2]
3. A recent and interesting piece of news: Ai vreo noutate de la ei? “Any news from them?”.^[4][13]

Related words

• nou
• Aromanian nãutati
• Latin novitās

Usage notes

In the sense “piece of news” the word is used mostly in the plural, noutăți.^[14] The u is a separate syllable: no-u-ta-te.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. noutate
3. ^ 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, 171
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 723
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. nou
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. noutate
7. ^ 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. noutate
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 877
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. novitās
10. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 182
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. noutate
12. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 496
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. noutate
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 225