original

Forms

original m or n (feminine singular originală, masculine plural originali, feminine/neuter plural originale)^[1] The old texts write orighinal: „adecă cea orighinal[ă] să aibă a nu să prinde în samă” “namely the original is not to be taken into account” (before 1761).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin orīginālis (“original, primitive”), borrowed from French original, with Russian оригинал (original) as a third model in MDA2 and the DLR.^[3][2][4] Tiktin derives it from Latin, also through other languages, and Scriban from the Latin word alone;^[5][6][1] Wiktionary gives Latin or French and notes that it can be analysed as origine with the suffix -al.^[5][6][1]

The Latin adjective is formed from orīgō (“origin, source”) with the suffix -ālis.^[7][1] The French adjective was borrowed from the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and the DLR date the first record before 1761, in a document that Iorga published in his Studii și documente, where the original of a deed (cea orighinală) is set against a later copy.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was documentary: the first copy of a deed or text, from which copies are made; it remained in the chancery language with the spelling orighinal into the 1830s (Țichindeal, Golescu, a deed of 1829).^[2] In the 19th century the word took on the senses of French original: of ideas and works, “one's own, not imitated”; of artists, “creating something new”; and of people, “odd, eccentric”.^[2][6] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 already gives both “that has no model” and “singular in its kind, odd”.^[8] The phrase în original means “in the original form” and “in the original language, untranslated”.^[4][3] Scriban notes păcatul original “original sin”, beside păcatul originar.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1761 – orighinal[ă] in a document published by Iorga, the first record.^[5][2]
• 1813 – orighinalul cel mai vechiu “the oldest original” in a document of 1813.^[2]
• 1829 – întocmai cu orighinalul “exactly like the original” in a deed published in the Uricariul.^[2]
• 1848 – Negulici defines it as “having no model” and “odd, peculiar”.^[8]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary has the noun original “a person after whom a portrait is made” and “an eccentric person”.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a document, text or work of art: being the first copy, from which copies or reproductions are made; often as a noun, the original;^[4][3][1] în original “in the original form; in the original language, untranslated”.^[4][3][1]
2. authentic, genuine.^[4][3]
3. Of ideas, theories or works: one's own, not copied from anyone else; new, novel.^[4][3]
4. Of artists, writers or scientists: creating something new and personal, without a model.^[4]
5. As a noun: a person or thing that serves as the model for a work of art.^[4][3]
6. Out of the ordinary, odd, eccentric; often as a noun: un original “an eccentric”.^[4][3]

Related words

• origine
• originar
• Latin orīginālis

Usage notes

MDA2 and DEX record original in many uses as a noun, neuter for a document or model (originalul actului) and masculine or feminine for an eccentric person.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. original
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 225
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 751
5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. original
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 910
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. original
9. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 217