personal

Forms

personal m or n (feminine singular personală, masculine plural personali, feminine/neuter plural personale)^[1] In the 1820s the word could take an old adjective ending -e in every gender: Golescu wrote „Eu personale nu am nici o pricină” “personally I have no quarrel”.^[2][3] Old derivatives with the same meaning were personalicesc (1814) and personalnic (1829).^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin persōnālis (“of a person, personal”), with the German, Italian and French words as further models: DLR and MDA2 name German personell, Personal, Italian personale and French personnel.^[3][4] Tiktin gives Latin and Italian, also through other languages.^[2] DN names Latin and French, and Wiktionary all four.^[2][5][1] The Latin adjective is formed on persōna (“person”) with the suffix -ālis.^[6][1]

The noun “staff” follows the same models: DEX and DLR give one etymology for adjective and noun, while NODEX, which lists the noun separately, gives Latin, German and Italian.^[7][3][8] The German noun was borrowed at the end of the 18th century from Medieval Latin persōnāle “the persons of one rank or calling, servants”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1780, as an adjective meaning “personal”.^[2] MDA2's first record is Golescu's travel notes of 1824–1826, where it is used as an adverb: „Eu personale nu am nici o pricină” “personally I have no quarrel”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first had the Latin legal and grammatical senses: what belongs to or concerns one person, as in DLR's quotations of ură personală “personal hatred” and siguranța personală “personal safety” from the 1820s.^[3] The grammatical pronume personal “personal pronoun” is in Tiktin and Scriban.^[2][10]

The collective noun “staff” is recorded from 1829, in personalul ambasadei “the embassy staff”.^[3] With the railways came tren personal “stopping train”, shortened to personalul.^[7][3] DEX also gives the senses “original” and “with a strong personality”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1780 – first record, as an adjective.^[2]
• 1814 – the old derivative personalicesc.^[2]
• 1824 – the adverb personale “personally” in Golescu's travel notes.^[4][3]
• 1829 – the noun personalul “the staff”.^[3]
• 1848 – personal “proper, particular to each person” in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. personal: belonging or relating to a particular person, specific to a person; individual, own.^[7][4][1]
2. Original; with a strong, marked personality.^[7]
3. (grammar) In pronume personal “personal pronoun” and mod personal, a mood whose forms change with the three persons.^[7]
4. (in tren personal) Of a passenger train that runs slowly and stops at every station.^[7]

Adverb

1. personally: from the speaker's own point of view; directly, in person.^[7][1]

Noun

1. staff, personnel: all the people who work in an enterprise or institution, or on a vehicle.^[7][1]
2. A category of employees doing the same kind of work: personal tehnic “technical staff”.^[7][8]
3. A stopping train; short for tren personal.^[7][1]

Related words

• persoană
• personalitate
• Latin persōnālis

Usage notes

Legături personale are ties of friendship, and răspundere personală is responsibility borne by one person.^[7] The noun has the plural personaluri beside personale.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. personal
3. ^ 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. personal
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 354
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. personal
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. persōnālis
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 807
8. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. personal
9. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de, p. s.v. personell
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 969
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. personal