personalitate

Forms

personalitate f (plural personalități)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French personnalité, with German Personalität as a second source, as DEX, MDA2, the DLR and DILF give it.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary names French alone and notes that the word matches personal with the suffix -itate;^[1][6][7] Scriban derived it from Medieval Latin, and Laurian and Massim compared Italian personalità.^[1][6][7] The French word is a learned loan from Late Latin persōnālitās.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the DLR and MDA2, is in a periodical of 1838, in the sentence “they defended his personality under the oppression of exile”.^[4][3] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) defined it as “personal quality or character; what makes up an individual” and also as “offensive, insulting personal talk”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word had a legal sense too, “the personal character of an obligation or a right”, alongside the moral one.^[7][9] In the plural it meant personal attacks, as in French: Costinescu (1870) translates a sentence about a memorandum full of personalități, and Scriban (1939) has nu faceți personalități “don't get personal”.^[9][6] DEX now labels this sense rare.^[2]

From the whole of a person's traits the word came to mean an outstanding person, and then anyone in high office.^[2][10] The legal phrase personalitate juridică “legal personality” and the political cultul personalității “personality cult” are set phrases.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1838 – in a periodical, the first record.^[4][3]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary, “personnalité”.^[11]
• 1870 – personalități “personal attacks” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. personality: what is proper to each person and sets them apart as a free, conscious individual; the stable mental and behavioural traits of a person; one's own way of being.^[2][3][1]
2. personalitate juridică: legal personality, the capacity of an organization to hold rights and obligations.^[2]
3. A person of outstanding ability and standing who makes a valuable contribution in some field; a personage.^[2][12]
4. A person who holds an important office in political, social or cultural life.^[2]
5. (now rare, mostly plural) An offensive personal allusion.^[2][6]

Related words

• persoană
• personal
• personaj

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 807
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 355
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. personalitate
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 969
7. ^ a b c Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 283
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 477
11. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 543
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. personalitate