realitate

Forms

realitate f (plural realități)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French réalité, with Latin reālitās and German Realität named beside it by DEX, MDA2, MDN and the DLR.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin names New Latin and French,^[6] Scriban Medieval Latin,^[7] and Wiktionary French;^[1] Wiktionary also analyses the word as from Romanian real + -itate.^[1] The French word is a learned loan from Medieval Latin reālitās, formed on Late Latin reālis (“actual”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1825, in Vârnav.^[6] The DLR quotes it from a text of 1848: „Niciodată biata Lavinia nu prea dominase așa cu realitate asupra inimei” “never had poor Lavinia so really ruled the heart”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In 1848 Negulici explained the word as Latin veritas and Romanian ființă “being”, and called reality the quality of a thing that exists.^[8] Costinescu recorded the adverbial phrase în realitate “in fact” in 1870.^[9] The DLR's quotations follow the word through Maiorescu, Eminescu and Caragiale.^[5] In philosophy it names matter existing outside and independently of consciousness.^[3][10]

In the 19th century the plural also meant landed property: Barițiu translated Hungarian fekvőség and ingatlan vagyon with realitate, and MDA2 marks this sense as obsolete.^[11][3]

Timeline

• 1825 – first record, in Vârnav.^[6]
• 1848 – in a text quoted by the DLR, and in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[5][8]
• 1862 – realitate “réalité” in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[12]
• 1869 – realitate “landed property” in Barițiu's Hungarian–Romanian dictionary.^[13]
• 1870 – în realitate “in fact” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. reality: a real fact or thing, something that actually exists; the actual state of things; by extension, the truth;^[2][3][1] în realitate “in fact”.^[2][3][1]
2. (philosophy, singular) Existence, all that exists; actual existence as opposed to possibility.^[2]
3. (philosophy, singular) Matter that exists outside human consciousness and independently of it.^[3][10]
4. (obsolete, plural) Landed property.^[3]

Related words

• real

Usage notes

MDA2 records the phrase a aduce pe cineva la realitate “to bring someone back to reality”, to make them see a situation as it is.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 925
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, 663
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. realitate
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. realitate
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. realitate
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1104
8. ^ 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. realitate
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 404
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 898
11. ^ Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 167
12. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 609
13. ^ Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 259