paradis

Forms

paradis n (plural paradisuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French paradis, and DEX, MDA2 and the DLR name German Paradies as a second source.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu gives French alone, while the neologism dictionaries compare Italian paradiso and the Latin word as well.^[5][6][7] Tiktin, who has records from the 17th century, takes the word from New Latin paradisum through an intermediary.^[8]

The French word was taken about 980 from the Christian Latin word, itself from Ancient Greek παράδεισος (parádeisos).^[9][10] The Greek word first meant the walled parks of the Persian kings and nobles and was borrowed from an Iranian word, compare Avestan pairidaēza (“enclosure”).^[10][11] The Septuagint used it for the Garden of Eden.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the Moldavian personal name Paradis Saula of 1633.^[8][12] Tiktin dates the common noun to 1642, with an old case form paradisom.^[8] In the dictionaries it appears with Bobb's Romanian–Latin–Hungarian dictionary of 1822, which MDA2 gives as its first record, in the sense “the garden of Eden”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense, the heavenly garden where Adam and Eve lived before the fall and where the souls of the righteous go, is the oldest one and a synonym of rai and eden.^[4][2] Negulici (1848) still glossed it with raiu.^[13] From the 19th century on it is used for a beautiful place, a lovely landscape and supreme happiness, and the phrase de paradis means “splendid”.^[4][3] Costinescu (1870) already has mere paradise, red apples eaten in winter, and MDA2 keeps măr-paradis as the name of an apple variety.^[14][3] In Transylvania the word also names the children's game of hopscotch.^[3]

A recent phrase is paradis fiscal “tax haven”, recorded in the press from 2001 and modelled on French paradis fiscal and English tax haven.^[15] The regional paradaisă “tomato” of Transylvania and Oltenia is a separate loan from German Paradeis(apfel).^[5]

Timeline

• 1633 – the Moldavian personal name Paradis Saula.^[8][12]
• 1642 – first record of the common noun.^[8]
• 1822 – in Bobb's dictionary, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[13]
• 1870 – mere paradise “winter apples” in Costinescu.^[14]
• 2001 – paradis fiscal “tax haven” in the press.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (religion) paradise: the dwelling of God, imagined as a garden in heaven where Adam and Eve lived before the original sin and where the souls of the sinless go after death, also called rai or eden.^[2][16]
2. (often figurative) A delightful, splendid place or view, something that delights the eye or the soul, or perfect happiness.^[2][3]
3. Pasărea paradisului: the bird of paradise.^[6][16]

Related words

• rai
• eden
• French paradis

Usage notes

The locution de paradis means “splendid, wonderful”: o grădină de paradis.^[2] A regional variant is paradiz.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b 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. 771
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 263
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. paradis
5. ^ a b 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. paradis
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
8. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. paradis
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
11. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
12. ^ a b Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. paradis
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci
15. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. paradis
16. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional