pensie

Forms

pensie f (plural pensii)^[1] A document of 1741 has the older form pinzion: „Pentru pinzionul de anul trecut” “for last year's pension”.^[2][3] One of 1805 has penzie: „s-au milostivit înălțata Cămară de l-au rânduit penzie” “the exalted Chamber was gracious enough to grant him a pension”.^[2][4] MDA2 records the regional forms pențâie and pindzâie.^[4]

Etymology

The sources disagree on the donor.^[5][4] MDA2, DEX 2009 and Marcu take it as borrowed from Russian пенсия (pensija), and Gabinschi adds that the Russian word came from Polish pensja or German Pension, from Latin.^[4][6][7][8] Ciorănescu derives it borrowed from French pension and thinks Sanzewitsch's Russian source unnecessary.^[5] Tiktin gives New Latin pensio, partly through other languages, and the DLR names Latin, French, German and Russian together.^[3][2] Wiktionary has French, perhaps partly Russian.^[1]

Its source, Latin pensio (“weighing; payment, instalment”), is formed on pendō (“to weigh out; to pay”).^[9][1] Graur explains the sense by the weighing of money in early times.^[10] The same Latin word gave the French word, recorded from 1216.^[11] pensiune and pension are later Romanian borrowings of the same word.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, of 1741, is the form pinzion in a document published by Iorga: a pension owed for the previous year.^[2][3] MDA2 dates the word from a document of 1805, which has penzie for a pension granted by the Chamber for imperial service.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a regular payment granted to someone to live on, often as a reward for service: Negulici in 1848 defines it as a yearly recompense for services, and the newspapers of 1829 write of a pension that the emperor of Austria gave to a man each year.^[12][2] With the modern state it became the monthly payment to people who leave work by age or invalidity, and to the survivors of a pensioner.^[2][6] The sense “subsidy” is now dated.^[6]

The 19th century also used pensiune for the same thing, the form that Scriban and Șăineanu still prefer.^[13][14][15] Set phrases include a ieși la pensie “to retire” and pensie alimentară “maintenance, alimony”.^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1741 – pinzion in a document published by Iorga, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1805 – penzie, a pension granted by the treasury.^[4][2]
• 1829 – pensie, a yearly pension, in the newspapers.^[2]
• 1844 – drepturi la pensie “pension rights”.^[2]
• 1848 – Negulici defines it as a yearly recompense for services.^[12]
• 1870 – Costinescu gives pensie and pensiune side by side.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pension: a sum paid regularly under the social insurance laws to former employees past a certain age or unable to work through illness or invalidity, and to the survivors of employees or pensioners.^[6][4]
2. pensie alimentară or pensie de întreținere: maintenance, alimony, the support one person must pay another by law or by a court's order.^[6][7]
3. la pensie: retired;^[6][16] a ieși la pensie: to retire.^[6][16]
4. (dated) A subsidy.^[6][4]

Word family

• pensiona
• pensionar

Related words

• pensiune
• pension
• Latin pensio

Usage notes

Pensie is the payment; the doublet pensiune now means a guest house or boarding house, and pension a boarding school.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pensie
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pénsie
4. ^ 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, 337
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. pensie
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 799
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. pensie
8. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 140
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ 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, p. s.v. pensie
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 272
14. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 961
15. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 474
16. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pensie