pardon

Forms

pardon n (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Pardon and at the same time borrowed from French pardon: DEX, DLR and MDA2 give both sources, while Tiktin, Scriban, Șăineanu and the Dicționar de neologisme name only the French word.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][1]} The German word was taken from French in the 16th century, first for the sparing of a condemned man or of prisoners of war, and the interjection followed French usage around 1700.^[8][1]

The French noun is a deverbal of pardonner (“to forgive”), from Late Latin perdōnō (“to forgive, literally to give wholly”), formed on dōnō (“to give, present”), which goes back to dōnum (“gift”) and dō (“to give”).^[9][8] Graur lists the word in this Latin family, beside the inherited da and pierde.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a leaflet printed at Cluj in 1797 with instructions for pardoning deserters: the emperor graciously extended the general pardon, „acel de obște pardon”, by six more months.^[4][3][5] The word was a noun, “remission of a penalty or obligation”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th and 19th centuries the noun belonged to law and war: an amnesty, the sparing of prisoners, in phrases with a cere “to ask”, a da “to give” and a avea “to have”.^[3][4] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 glossed pardonu with Latin venia and grātia, noting that it was French.^[11] Asachi and the Romanian press of 1839 used it for the quarter given to captured enemies.^[3]

From the sense “forgiveness” came the polite formula of apology, first quoted from Heliade and common in Negruzzi, Alecsandri and Caragiale.^[3][12] It also serves to ask leave and, as a protest, to contradict: Ba pardon! “Not at all!”.^[2][4] Șăineanu records s-am pardon “begging your pardon”.^[13] In familiar speech the noun became a euphemism for the backside, and MDA2 also gives it for the penis.^[7][4]

Timeline

• 1797 – pardon “general pardon” in a Cluj leaflet on deserters, the first record.^[4][5]
• 1825 – pardonu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[11]
• 1839 – “quarter” given to prisoners, in the Romanian press.^[3]
• 1889 – the verb pardona “to pardon” in Barițiu.^[4]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Sorry!, excuse me!, pardon!: a polite formula of apology, or to ask leave to pass or to speak.^[2][4][1]
2. (as a protest) Not at all!, that is not so!: Ba pardon, eu am fost primul! “Excuse me, I was first!”.^[2][12]

Noun

1. (dated) Remission of a penalty or an obligation; an amnesty.^[2][4]
2. Forgiveness, excuse: a cere pardon “to ask forgiveness”.^[4][12]
3. (colloquial, euphemistic) The backside; also the penis.^[7][4]

Related words

• pardona
• da
• French pardon

Usage notes

The joking phrase pardon cu capul spart “sorry, with the head broken” answers someone who apologises after doing real harm.^[4] The noun rarely has a plural, pardoane.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. 775
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pardon
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 270
5. ^ 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. pardon
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 935
7. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. pardon
8. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
9. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 684
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
11. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 482
12. ^ 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, 324
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 463