psihopat

Forms

psihopat m (plural psihopați, feminine equivalent psihopată)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French psychopathe,^{[2][3][4][5][1]} a back-formation from psychopathie (“psychopathy”).^[1] Romanian took the noun psihopatie from French as well; the French word is built on Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul”) and πάθος (páthos, “suffering, disease”).^[6][2] Within Romanian the word can be read as psiho- and -pat.^[1]

Aromanian has psicupat, from Albanian, and psihupat, from Greek.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and the DLR take the first record from Camil Petrescu's plays, collected in 1946–1947: „Nu sunt nebuni adevărați… Sunt simpli psihopați” “They are not real madmen… They are just psychopaths”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the medical sense, a person suffering from psychopathy, which DEX defines as a mental illness and especially a morbid state with disorders of feeling, behaviour or character.^[2] Călinescu used it as an adjective, of an artist psihopat “a psychopathic artist”, and Ralea and Vinea used it in essays and fiction.^[4]

Timeline

• 1946–1947 – first record, in Camil Petrescu's plays.^[3][4]
• 1958 – the related noun psihopatie in the DLRM.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Psychopath: a person who suffers from psihopatie.^[2][3][1]

Adjective

1. Psychopathic; suffering from psychopathy.^[3][4]

Related words

• psihopatie
• French psychopathe
• Aromanian psihupat

Usage notes

The feminine is psihopată, plural psihopate; the masculine plural is psihopați.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 893
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, 587
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. psihopat
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. psihopat
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. psihopatie