rebel

Forms

rebel m or n (feminine singular rebelă, masculine plural rebeli, feminine/neuter plural rebele)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rebellis (“renewing war; rebellious”), also borrowed from German Rebell, also borrowed from French rebelle: these are the sources that MDA2, the DLR, DEX and Tiktin name together.^[2][3][4][5] DN gives French alone, Scriban and Negulici the Latin word, and Wiktionary French, from Latin.^[6][7][8][1] The Latin adjective is formed with re- (“again”) on bellum (“war”).^[9][7] Graur places it in the Latin family of duellum, the old form of the Latin word for war, with duel and belicos.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Foletul novei, the calendar kept for Constantin Brâncoveanu, in 1694: „Un rebel va plăti cu capul lui blestemățiia” “a rebel will pay for his wickedness with his head”.^[5][3] MDA2 gives 1693, the first year of the calendar.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th and early 19th centuries the noun named men who rose against their sovereign, in Radu Popescu, Ienăchiță Văcărescu and Șincai.^[3] Eminescu used the adjective of thoughts and dreams, „vise rebele” “rebel dreams”.^[5][11] From the 19th century on it is said of an illness that resists treatment, and later of unruly hair.^[12][4][9] MDA2 records an old variant răbel.^[2]

Timeline

• 1694 – the noun “rebel” in the Foletul novei.^[5][3]
• 1830 – “rebels” of Asia Minor in Curierul românesc.^[3]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1870 – of fevers and illnesses that resist medicines, in Costinescu.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. rebel, rebellious: taking part in a rebellion or urging others to revolt; often as a noun, a rebel.^[4][2]
2. Disobedient, recalcitrant: un elev rebel “an unruly pupil”.^[4][13]
3. Showing defiance or revolt: un gest rebel.^[4]
4. (figurative, of hair) Unruly, refusing to stay combed.^[4][6]
5. (figurative, of illness) Hard to cure, yielding slowly to treatment.^[4][6]

Related words

• rebeliune
• rebela
• Latin rebellis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 665
3. ^ 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. rebel
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 926
5. ^ 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. rebel
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. rebel
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 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. 341
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 39
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 695
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 404
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. rebel