opinie

Forms

opinie f (plural opinii)^[1] Older variants are opiniune and the rare opinionă: „Am foarte bună opinionă de sențimenturile voastre” “I have a very good opinion of your feelings”, in a calendar of 1794.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin opīniō (“opinion, belief”), borrowed from French opinion, as DEX, MDA2 and the DLR state.^[4][2][3] Tiktin and Wiktionary give the Latin alone, while MDN puts French first.^[5][1][6] The Latin noun is formed on opīnor (“to suppose, to think”) with the suffix -iō.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Foletul novei, the calendar of Constantin Brâncoveanu, which Tiktin dates to 1703: „să muncească a birui opiniia acelui mare” “let him strive to overcome the opinion of that great one”.^[5][3] MDA2's year, 1693, is the first year of the calendar's span.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare in the 18th century; the Latinist writers of Transylvania glossed it with native words: Molnar wrote „opiniile sau cugetările”, “the opinions or thoughts”.^[3] A text of 1836 has opinia publicului, and opinia publică “public opinion” is now a set phrase.^[3][4] Negulici's 1848 dictionary of new words still explained it with părere and credință.^[8]

Timeline

• 1703 – opiniia in Foletul novei.^[5][3]
• 1794 – the variant opinionă in a calendar.^[3]
• 1836 – opinia publicului “public opinion” in the press.^[3]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An opinion, a view or judgement;^[4][1] opinia publică “public opinion”.^[4][1]

Related words

• părere

Usage notes

A face opinie separată means to hold firmly to a view that differs from the majority's.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 215
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. opinie
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. 745
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. opinie
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. opinie
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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. opinie