polițist

Forms

polițist m (plural polițiști)^[1] As an adjective and as a noun for a woman it has the feminine polițistă, plural polițiste.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Polizist (“policeman”).^{[3][4][2][5][1]} Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed as poliție plus the suffix -ist.^[1] The German word is the agent noun of Polizei (“police”), which goes back through Medieval Latin policia and Late Latin polītīa (“administration of the state”) to Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía), from πολίτης (polítēs, “citizen”) and πόλις (pólis, “city”).^[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to 1906, Alexi's Romanian–German dictionary, with the sense “policeman”; the DLR cites Alexi first as well.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The noun took the place of older words for a policeman such as polițai and the regional polițar.^[3][4] The adjective means “of the police”, and in roman polițist or film polițist it names a detective novel or film, recorded in the DLRLC.^[8][2] Of a state or regime, it means one that rules through the police and the gendarmerie.^[8][2] In 2003 the press reported a new post, the polițist de proximitate “community police officer”, modelled on French, Italian and Spanish terms.^[9]

Timeline

• 1906 – first record, in Alexi's dictionary.^[3]
• 1929 – in Șăineanu's dictionary, from German.^[10]
• 1955–1957 – roman polițist “detective novel” in the DLRLC.^[8]
• 2003 – polițist de proximitate “community police officer”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A policeman or policewoman; a police officer.^[2][3][1]

Adjective

1. Of the police.^[2][3]
2. (of a novel or film) Built around a criminal investigation: roman polițist “detective novel”.^[2][3]
3. (of a state or regime) Ruling through the police and by coercive, abusive methods: stat polițist “police state”.^[2][3]

Related words

• poliție
• polițai
• polițienesc
• German Polizist

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 846
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 456
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. polițist
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1012
6. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
7. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
8. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 491
9. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. polițíst
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 494