oportunitate

Forms

oportunitate f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French opportunité, with Latin opportūnitās as a second source, a learned word of the 19th century.^[2][3][4][5] Scriban gives only the Latin word.^[6] Wiktionary notes that it also reads as from Romanian oportun + -itate.^[1] The Latin noun is formed on opportūnus (“favourable”) with the suffix -tās, and the French one was borrowed from it.^[7][1] The modern sense “opportunity” was taken up again in the 1990s after English opportunity, with French and Italian opportunità behind it as well.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 has the word, glossed French opportunité and “favourable occasion, situation”.^[9] The MDA2's first record is a speech of Titu Maiorescu, from 1866 on, where he sets out to justify the opportunity, that is the timeliness, of a measure.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The 19th-century dictionaries gave both senses, the timeliness of something and a favourable occasion.^[10][11][12] The dictionaries of the mid-20th century kept only the first, with “opportunism” as a second sense.^[13][14] After 1990 the press revived “favourable occasion, chance”, as in oportunități de afaceri “business opportunities”, under the influence of English opportunity;^[8] Rodica Zafiu commented on it in 1995.^[8] DEX 2009 lists this sense again.^[2]

Timeline

• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary, “favourable occasion”.^[9]
• 1866 – in Titu Maiorescu's parliamentary speeches.^[3]
• 1870 – in Costinescu's dictionary, spelled opportunitate.^[10]
• 1993–1995 – oportunități de parteneriat, oportunități de afaceri in the press.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being oportun, timeliness;^[2][3] fără oportunitate “inappropriately”.^[2][3]
2. A favourable situation, an opportunity, a chance.^[2][8][1]
3. Opportunism.^[3][15]

Related words

• oportun
• inoportun

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 745
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 216
4. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. oportunitate
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. oportunitate
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 904
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. oportunitate
9. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 511
10. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 209
11. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 443
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. oportunitate
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 273
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 722
15. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. oportunitate