oficial

Forms

oficial m or n (feminine singular oficială, masculine plural oficiali, feminine/neuter plural oficiale)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin officiālis, with borrowed from French officiel as a second source, as DEX gives it;^[2][3][4] DN and MDN give the same.^[2][3][4] MDA2 and the DLR add borrowed from Modern Greek ὀφφικιάλης (offikiális), Russian официальный (oficialʹnyj), German offiziell as further models, and Tiktin speaks of Latin through several intermediaries.^[5][6][7] The Latin adjective means “of duty or office” and is formed from officium (“duty, office”) and the suffix -ālis.^[8][1] The French adjective was borrowed in 1778 from English official, which goes back through Old French to the same Late Latin word.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1715, and quotes the noun from I. Văcărescu: „Ofichialii saraiului” “the officials of the palace”.^[7] MDA2's first record is Dumitrache's history of the events of 1769–1774.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old texts have the forms ofichial and ofițial, and the early word was also a noun for an official;^[7][5] MDA2 marks the noun “civil servant” as obsolete.^[7][5] The adjective “coming from an authority” appears in the press of 1829, înștiințare ofițială “official notice”, and in the Buletin of 1836;^[6][10] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 spells it official.^[6][10] Later came “proper to state documents”, as in limba oficială “the official language”, and the figurative sense “cold, formal”.^[6][2]

From the 1980s the noun oficial “a person in authority” returned, after English official and French officiel.^[11] The derivatives include oficialitate and neoficial.^[5][12] Aromanian ofitsial is a separate borrowing from Latin.^[1]

Timeline

• 1715 – first record.^[7]
• 1769–1774 – in Dumitrache's history, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1829 – înștiințare ofițială “official notice” in the press.^[6]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1988 – the noun “person in authority”, after English and French.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. official: coming from an authority, a government or a state; declared or laid down by law; representing an authority: Monitorul oficial, the gazette that publishes laws.^[2][5]
2. Proper to government acts and state documents; in their style: limba oficială “the official language”.^[2][6]
3. Conforming to the laws, rules and formalities of a state; approved or agreed between authorities: o vizită oficială “an official visit”.^[2]
4. (figurative) Coldly polite; formal, solemn, stereotyped.^[2][3]

Noun

1. An official, a person in authority; oficialitate.^[2][11]
2. (obsolete) A civil servant.^[5]

Adverb

1. Officially, by order of an authority: a anunța oficial “to announce officially”.^[5][13]

Word family

• oficialitate
• neoficial

Related words

• oficiu
• Aromanian ofitsial

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 736
3. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. oficial
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. oficial
5. ^ 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, 198
6. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. oficial
7. ^ 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. oficial
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. officialis
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. officiel
10. ^ a b c 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. 293
11. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. oficial
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 136
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 893