ocazie

Forms

ocazie f (plural ocazii)^[1] Early 19th-century letters have a neuter ocazion: „Oricâte gazeturi vor fi venit, mă rog să mi să trimiță cu acest ocazion” “whatever newspapers have come, I beg you to send them to me by this opportunity” (1803).^[2][3] A letter of 1818 spells it ucazion: „Găsind ucazion în grab[ă] îi voi trimite aciia la Sibii” “finding an opportunity soon, I will send them there to Sibiu”.^[2] The form ocaziune was common in the 19th century: Ion Ghica writes of ocaziunea revoluțiunei.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French occasion, with German Okasion and Latin occāsiō as further models, as the DLR, DEX and MDA2 give it.^[2][4][3] Tiktin names the French word, “also indirectly”, and Wiktionary French and Latin.^[5][1]

Latin “occāsiō” is formed on occidō (“to fall, happen”) with -tiō: first “a falling out, a happening”, then “a favourable moment, an opportunity”.^[6][7][1] French borrowed it in 1174, and it replaced the inherited Old French ochoison.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1781, in a document published by Furnică.^[5] MDA2's first record is a letter of before 1803 in the same collection, with the neuter ocazion “opportunity” for sending newspapers.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

For half a century the word had several forms: ocazion and ucazion in letters of 1803–1818, then ocaziune and ocazie side by side.^[2] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 has ocazie, glossed with the native prilej.^[9] The CADE of 1931 still treats ocaziune as the main form.^[10]

From “opportunity” come the phrases de ocazie “for the occasion; chance; second-hand and cheap”, a da ocazie “to give rise to”, and cu ocazia “on the occasion of”: Caragiale has „Cu ocazia aledzerii” “on the occasion of the election”.^[4][2] The word also came to mean a festivity, and in Oltenia and Muntenia a lift found by chance.^[4][3] In slang ocazie is a vehicle that picks up hitchhikers.^[11]

Timeline

• 1781 – the first record.^[5]
• 1803 – ocazion in a letter.^[3][2]
• 1818 – ucazion in a letter.^[2]
• 1848 – ocazie “circumstance, opportunity” in Negulici's dictionary.^[9]
• 1931 – ocaziune as the main form in the CADE.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A circumstance that causes, allows or eases an action; an opportunity, a favourable moment, prilej: de ocazie “for a particular occasion” or “chance, second-hand”;^[4][1] cu altă ocazie “another time”.^[4][1]
2. A special event, a festivity.^[4][3]
3. (colloquial) A means of transport found by chance, a lift.^[4][3]

Related words

• ocaziona
• ocazional
• caz
• occident

Usage notes

The old variant ocaziune is now obsolete.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ocazie
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 189
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. 731
5. ^ 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. ocazie
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ 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, p. s.v. ocazie
10. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ocazie
11. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. ocazie