patrie

Forms

patrie f (plural patrii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin patria (“native land”), also borrowed from French patrie, the two sources DEX, MDA2 and the DLR give.^[2][3][4] Ciorănescu names French and Italian patria, and the neologism dictionaries add the Italian word to the Latin and French ones.^[5][6] Tiktin sees Latin as the main source, also through other languages, beside Modern Greek.^[7] Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing from Latin.^[1]

The Latin noun is short for a phrase with terra (“land”), “the land of the fathers”, from patrius (“of a father, ancestral”), from pater (“father”).^[1][8] The older Romanian form patridă, a doublet, comes from Modern Greek πατρίδα (patrída) and belongs to the Greek layer of the 18th century.^[5][7] A form Aromanian patrie is recorded too.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1680, in Dosoftei.^[7] MDA2 and the DLR start with the preface of the Bucharest Bible of 1688, which calls the ruler „curățitoriu de tiraniile patriei” “cleanser of the tyrannies of the fatherland”.^[3][4] The sense is “one's country, fatherland”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the word meant the country of one's birth: a document of 1694 has a man return „la patria lui, încărcat de laude” “to his homeland, loaded with praise”.^[4] In the 18th century the Greek form patridă was used beside it; it later survived only as a dated, ironic word.^[5][3] The chroniclers and Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada used it for the political community one serves: „Lui e patria ca dulce mamă” “to him the fatherland is like a sweet mother”.^[4]

Modern Romanian also uses it for the birthplace of a person, an idea or a thing: Scriban gives “Africa is the homeland of lions”.^[10] The phrase patrie-mamă names a country from which another country or province has separated.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1680 – first record, in Dosoftei.^[7]
• 1688 – the preface of the Bucharest Bible.^[3][4]
• 1694 – „la patria lui” in a document.^[4]
• 18th century – the Greek form patridă.^[5][7]
• c. 1750 – „au sosit... în patria sa” in a chronicle copy.^[4]
• c. 1800-1812 – Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. homeland, fatherland: the country where one was born, seen in relation to oneself.^[2][3]
2. The political, social and cultural setting of a people: its territory, language, culture and traditions; also one's native town or region, or a country one settles in and becomes a citizen of.^[2][3]
3. The place of origin of someone or something.^[2][3]
4. A place or climate that favours the growth of someone or something.^[2][3]

Related words

• patriot
• patriotic
• patriotism
• patridă
• Latin patria

Usage notes

Patrie-mamă or patrie-mumă is the mother country.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 783
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, 285
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. patrie
5. ^ a b c d 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. patrie
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. patrie
7. ^ 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. pátrie
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 215
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 943