pacific

Forms

pacific m or n (feminine singular pacifică, masculine plural pacifici, feminine/neuter plural pacifice)^[1] In the middle of the 19th century the word was also spelled pacefic: „Elveția au fost totdeauna vecinul cel mai pacefic” “Switzerland has always been the most peaceable neighbour” (Timpul, 1856).^[2][3] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written пачифик.^[1]

Etymology

It is a neologism with several models, as the dictionaries give them: borrowed from Latin pācificus (“making peace, peaceable”), with French pacifique and Italian pacifico as further models.^[4][2][1] MDA2 and Marcu name Latin and French, DLR Latin and French as well, and Tiktin sees the Latin word behind it through an intermediary.^[3][5][6] Scriban derives it from Latin alone.^[7]

The Latin adjective is formed from pāx (“peace”) and -ficus (“making”), a suffix related to faciō (“to make”).^[8][1] The French word is itself a learned borrowing from the Latin one, and the Italian word has been in use since the 13th century.^[1][9] Wiktionary also notes that the Romanian word can be analysed as pace with the element -ific.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1793, in Ianache Văcărescu's history of the Ottoman emperors, where a vizier is called „pacificul vezir” “the peace-loving vizier”.^[6][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first described people and states that love peace and keep it, the sense DEX now labels dated.^[2][4] By extension it came to describe a face or a manner that shows calm and gentleness: Heliade praises „o buză pacefică” “a peaceable lip”.^[2][3] Applied to policy, it means tending towards a peaceful settlement of conflicts.^[3]

In the 20th century railwaymen called a fast passenger locomotive a locomotivă pacific, or simply a pacific, a term now out of use.^[4][10][3]

Timeline

• 1793 – pacificul vezir in Ianache Văcărescu's history of the Ottoman emperors, the first record.^[6][2]
• 1848 – Negulici's dictionary of neologisms explains it as “one who likes peace”.^[11]
• 1848 – the spelling pacefic in the Curierul românesc.^[2]
• 1856 – pacefic “peaceable” of a neighbouring state, in the newspaper Timpul.^[2]
• 1955–1957 – the DLRLC records locomotivă pacific, a fast passenger locomotive.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated) peaceable, fond of peace and good understanding; tending towards reconciliation.^[4][3]
2. Calm, without aggression; showing gentleness.^[12][3]
3. (obsolete) In locomotivă pacific: a fast locomotive that drew passenger trains; also as a neuter noun.^[4][10]

Related words

• pace
• Latin pāx

Usage notes

The ocean was first called marea pacifică or oceanul pacific with the adjective: „în isolele mării pacifice” “in the islands of the Pacific Sea” (1817).^[2] Today the name survives as the proper noun Oceanul Pacific, or Pacific alone.^[2][3] Șăineanu's dictionary already lists it as a geographical name.^[13]

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 i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pacific
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 244
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 761
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. pacific
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. pacific
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 920
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pācificus
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. pacifico
10. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 301
11. ^ 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. pacific
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pacific
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 453