privilegiu

Forms

privilegiu n (plural privilegii)^[1] Old texts write it with ⟨gh⟩: the history of Wallachia that MDA2 gives as the first record has „să ție de moșie cu priveleghii de la înpăratul date neamului cantacozinesc” “to hold as an estate, with privileges granted by the emperor to the Cantacuzino family”.^[2][3] A Moldavian ordinance of 1818 has privileghiile: „privileghiile date lor de la domnii Moldaviei să vor păzi întocma” “the privileges granted them by the princes of Moldavia shall be kept exactly”.^[4] Tiktin also records privileghion in Șincai's chronicle and a feminine privileghie in Cantemir.^[4] An old plural privilegiuri occurs beside privilegii, for instance in Bălcescu.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin privilegium: Tiktin and the DLR take it from Latin, the DLR comparing Italian privilegio and French privilège, while DEX and MDA2 name French and Latin and Wiktionary French alone.^{[4][2][5][3][1]}

The Latin noun is formed of prīvus (“single, one's own”), lēx (“law”) and the suffix -ium; it first meant a law passed against, and later in favour of, a single person.^[1][7] French borrowed it about 1170 as a legal term.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1703.^[4] MDA2's first record, in a history of Wallachia, already has the sense of rights and estates granted by a ruler.^[3][2] Cantemir writes of rulers who gave newcomers “long and wide estates with privileges”, „dându-le cu privileghii lungi și late moșii”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first named an advantage or exemption from obligations to the state, granted to a person, a group, a town or a monastery, and by metonymy the charter that granted it.^[3][5] Negulici defines it in 1848 as a right given to one person or to a few.^[9] In law it is a creditor's right to be paid before the others.^[5][10] In general use it is any right, advantage or favour, and a circumstance that favours someone.^[5][3]

Barițiu's Hungarian–Romanian dictionary of 1869 uses it to render Hungarian kiváltság and szabadalom.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1703 – the first record.^[4]
• 1818 – privileghiile in a Moldavian ordinance.^[4]
• 1848 – Negulici defines it as a right given to one person or a few.^[9]
• 1862 – Pontbriant gives the plural privilegiuri.^[13]
• 1869 – Barițiu uses it for Hungarian kiváltság.^[11]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German Freiheitsbrief and Privilegium.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A privilege: an advantage, exemption or social distinction granted in special circumstances to a person, group or class, or in the Middle Ages to towns and monasteries;^[5][3] (concrete) the charter that grants it.^[5][3]
2. (law) A creditor's right, given by law, to be paid before the other creditors.^[5][10]
3. (general) A right, advantage or favour; a circumstance favourable to someone.^[5][15]

Related words

• Latin privilegium
• French privilège

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. privilegiu
3. ^ 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, 553
4. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. privilegiu
5. ^ 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. 878
6. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 584
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ 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. privilegiu
10. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. privilegiu
11. ^ a b Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 308
12. ^ Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 499
13. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 587
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 509
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. privilegiu