oficiu

Forms

oficiu n (plural oficii)^[1] A text of 1779 has the Greek-shaped plural: „schimba ei ofichiile și împărțiia dregătoriile” “they changed the offices and shared out the posts”.^[2] A document of 1798 quoted by Gáldi has ofichion: „Câți însă vor rămânea în ofichion alu lor” “those, however, who remain in their office”.^[2] Văcărescu wrote ofițiu: „La acest ofițiu se pun de-a pururea oameni împodobiți cu procopseală” “to this office are always appointed men adorned with learning”.^[2]

Etymology

It came by several routes.^[3] MDA2 and the DLR name borrowed from Modern Greek ὀφφίκιον (offíkion), borrowed from Latin officium, German Offizium and French office;^[4][2][5] DEX names the last three.^[4][2][5] Ciorănescu takes the modern word from French and Latin in the 19th century, and keeps apart its doublets: the old ofichie (“charge, mission”), from Greek, of the 18th century, and ofis, from French through Russian in the 19th century, which DEX glosses as an old word for a princely decree.^[6][5] Wiktionary gives the French or the Latin word.^[1]

The Latin word, meaning “service, duty”, is formed on ops (“power, help”) or opus (“work”) and faciō (“to do”).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a document of 1736 in Stinghe's collection.^[3] MDA2 and the DLR date the word to 1779, in the plural ofichiile “offices, posts”.^[4][2] In the Phanariote period it meant a public office or rank: a text of 1798 quoted by Gáldi has ofichion.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a duty or post in the princely administration;^[2][3] Dionisie writes of raising an officer to a higher ofichie.^[2][3] The DLR's quotations have Latin-shaped forms from 1827, and the old sense “princely decree” is now obsolete.^[2][5] Negulici (1848) gives the senses “service, function, divine service, duty to be done”, and Costinescu has bunele oficii “good offices”.^[9][10] Șăineanu (1929) records it for an office such as the telegraph and post office; modern dictionaries add a small pantry next to the dining room.^[11][5] The phrase din oficiu “ex officio” describes what an authority does without being asked, as with a lawyer appointed by the court.^[5][11]

Timeline

• 1736 – first record, in a document published by Stinghe.^[3]
• 1779 – ofichiile “offices, posts”.^[4][2]
• 1798 – ofichion in a document quoted by Gáldi.^[2]
• 1827 – the Latin-shaped plural oficiurilor.^[2]
• 1848 – “service, function, divine service” in Negulici's dictionary.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A service or department of a firm or institution, and the room where it works: oficiu poștal “post office”.^[5][12]
2. A special duty; a function or post.^[5] din oficiu: by order of an authority, not on request;^[5][4] (figurative) automatically.^[5][4]
3. (obsolete) A princely decision or decree.^[5][4]
4. (in the plural) Help, service: bune oficii “good offices”, a friendly intervention, especially a state's mediation between other states.^[5][13]
5. A religious service: oficiul divin.^[5][12]
6. (rare) A small pantry next to the dining room where meals are prepared for serving.^[5][13]

Related words

• oficial
• oficia
• oficios
• oficină
• ofițer
• Latin officium

Usage notes

MDA2 lists the old variants ofichie, ofichion, ofici, oficie, ofis, ofiț, ofiție and ofițiu.^[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 l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. oficiu
3. ^ 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. ofíciu
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 198
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 736
6. ^ 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. oficiu
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. oficiu
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 200
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 441
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 257
13. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. oficiu