plictisitor

Forms

plictisitor m or n (feminine singular plictisitoare, masculine plural plictisitori, feminine/neuter plural plictisitoare)^[1] MDA2 records an old variant plectisitor.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian plictisi + -tor, from the verb “to bore” with the agent and adjective suffix.^[4][2][5][1] The verb is from Modern Greek πλήττω (plítto), built on its aorist έπληξα (éplixa) or πλήκτισα (plíktisa).^[4][2][1] Wiktionary suggests it came through the adjective plicticos, from πληκτικός (pliktikós, “boring”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1871, in the Academy's glossary, with the senses “boring” and “annoying, unpleasant”.^[5] MDA2 starts with Alexi's dictionary of 1906.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has had both its senses from the start: “causing boredom, dull” and “irritating, annoying”.^[5][4] The DLR's 20th-century quotations, from Rebreanu, Sadoveanu, Camil Petrescu and Călinescu, show the first sense extended to “uninteresting, monotonous”.^[3] It is also used as an adverb, a vorbi plictisitor “to talk in a boring way”.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1832 – the verb plictisi in Golescu's Condica.^[7][2]
• 1871 – plictisitor in the Academy's glossary.^[5]
• 1906 – in Alexi's Romanian–German dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. boring, tedious; dull, uninteresting.^[4][2][1]
2. annoying, irritating.^[4][3]

Related words

• plictisi
• plictiseală
• plicticos

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 421
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. plictisitor
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 833
5. ^ 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. plictisitor
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 998
7. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. plictisi