promisiune

Forms

promisiune f (plural promisiuni)^[1] An older variant promisie is now obsolete.^[2][3] Caragiale still used it: „Eu am promisia actualului director general al teatrelor” “I have the promise of the present director general of the theatres”.^[4] The 19th-century etymological spelling was promissiune, the headword of Costinescu's dictionary of 1870.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French promission and also borrowed from Latin prōmissiō (“a promising, promise”), a 19th-century learned word: MDA2, the DLR and the dictionaries of neologisms give both sources.^{[3][4][6][7][1]} DEX, the DILF and Tiktin name French alone,^[8][9][2] and Scriban Latin alone.^[10] The Latin noun is formed on prōmittō (“to promise”) with the suffix -tiō.^[11][1] The French word was borrowed from Latin in the 12th century, first in the religious phrase terre de promission (“the promised land”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Gheorghe Asachi's literary writings of 1841, where someone wanted to break his promises: „vroia a-și călca promisiunile”.^[2][4] MDA2 cites the same passage, from a modern edition.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Romanian word has had the general sense “a promise” from its first record, and DEX gives făgăduială as its synonym.^[4][8] French itself kept promission mainly in the phrase for the promised land and replaced it with promesse in the general sense.^[12] Nineteenth-century dictionaries gloss it with făgăduială and German Versprechen.^[5][13]

The DLR's quotations show its use in law and politics, as in promisiune de căsătorie “promise of marriage”, and in everyday speech, as in a-și respecta promisiunea “to keep one's promise”.^[4] MDA2 also records a rare sense “promising prospect” and a very rare old sense “oath”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1841 – promisiunile in Gheorghe Asachi's literary writings, the first record.^[2][4]
• 1848 – the variant promisia in a text quoted by the DLR.^[4]
• 1870 – promissiune in Costinescu's dictionary.^[5]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German Versprechen.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A promise: a commitment by which someone binds themselves to do something for another; the usual synonym is făgăduială.^[8][3]
2. (rare) A promising prospect.^[3][7]
3. (obsolete) An oath.^[3]

Related words

• promite

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. promisiune
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, 567
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. promisiune
5. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 368
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. promisiune
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. promisiune
8. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 884
9. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. promisiune
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1062
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 512