ostatic

Forms

ostatic m (plural ostatici)^[1] A variant ostatec occurs in Caragiale: „lăsând ostatec pe copilul lui” “leaving his child as hostage”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian ostatico, a 19th-century loan, as Ciorănescu, MDA2, DEX, Tiktin and the neologism dictionaries state, while Wiktionary calls it probable and compares French otage.^{[4][3][5][6][7][1]} Șăineanu calls it a literary formation after the Italian word.^[8] Scriban derives the Italian word from Vulgar Latin *obsidaticus, on obses (“hostage”); this is his own view.^[9] Modern Italian more commonly says ostaggio, which DELI explains as an early Gallicism, from Old French ostage, a derivative of the word for “guest”.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1868, in Barcianu's dictionary, with the sense “hostage”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a person given or held by a state as a guarantee that a treaty or obligation will be kept;^[11] CADE (1931) defines it as a pledge given in wartime.^[3][11] DEX 2009 adds the modern senses: a civilian held by an occupying force against international law, and a person kidnapped for a ransom or for political demands.^[5] Familiarly the word is used for a pledge, and for a person held by someone as a guarantee.^[5][12]

Timeline

• 1868 – the first record, in Barcianu's dictionary.^[6]
• 1893–1895 – in Damé's dictionary, glossed French otage.^[13]
• 1931 – a pledge given in wartime, in CADE.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hostage: a person held by a state or organisation as a guarantee that obligations will be kept.^[3][5]
2. A civilian held by enemy forces in an occupied territory, against international law.^[5]
3. A person kidnapped for a ransom or for political demands.^[5]
4. (figurative, colloquial) A pledge, a security.^[5][3]

Usage notes

The feminine is ostatică (plural ostatice); the variant ostatec is now regional or old.^[5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ostatic
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, 233
4. ^ 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. ostatic
5. ^ 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. 755
6. ^ 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. ostatic
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 450
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 914
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. ostaggio
11. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ostatic
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 292
13. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État