real

Forms

real m or n (feminine singular reală, masculine plural reali, feminine/neuter plural reale)^[1] An old variant is reel, after French réel.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing of the 19th century, and the dictionaries name several sources: borrowed from Late Latin reālis (“real, actual”), as well as French réel, German real and Italian reale.^{[3][2][4][5][1]} Scriban gives the Medieval Latin word alone.^[6] Graur lists it among the Romanian words of the family of Latin rēs (“thing”).^[7]

The Latin adjective is formed on that noun with the suffix -ālis.^[1] It is first recorded in the 4th century meaning “effective”, and in the Middle Ages it became a term of philosophy and of law (“relating to things, to property”).^[8] German took it in the 17th century.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is from a periodical of 1838.^[2] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) defines it as “what exists, in truth”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant “really existing, true”, as opposed to imagined or ideal.^[11][12][3] In the late 19th century it also meant “practical, concerned with exact sciences”: științe reale and școală reală after German Realschule, and the secție reală of a secondary school.^[13][14][3] Law, economics, optics and mathematics added fixed phrases such as drept real, salariu real, imagine reală and număr real.^[3][2] As a neuter noun, realul is “what is real, reality”.^[3][15]

Timeline

• 1838 – the first record, in a periodical.^[2]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[11]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it with French réel.^[12]
• 1886 – științe reale and școală reală in Barcianu.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. real: having an objective existence, independent of consciousness or will; actually existing, true; as a neuter noun, what is real, reality.^[3][2][1]
2. Undeniable, genuine, effective: un pericol real “a real danger”.^[3][2]
3. In fixed phrases: valoare reală the intrinsic value of a coin;^[3][2] drept real a right in rem, exercised directly over a thing;^[3][2] secție reală the science section of a secondary school;^[3][2] imagine reală a real image formed by an optical instrument;^[3][2] număr real a real number.^[3][2]

Related words

• realitate
• realism
• Latin rēs

Usage notes

A different word, real¹ (plural reali), is an old Spanish silver coin worth a quarter of a peseta; it is borrowed from Spanish real and French réal, and the Spanish word is from Latin rēgālis (“royal”).^[3][16][6] It is recorded from 1822, in the old form rial.^[2][17] Marcu also gives it as the name of the Brazilian currency.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 663
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 925
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. real
5. ^ 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. real2
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1103
7. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 83
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. réel
9. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 750
10. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de, p. s.v. real
11. ^ a b c 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. 341
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 404
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. 530
14. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 538
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 693
16. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. real
17. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. real 1