republică

Forms

republică f (plural republici)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rēs pūblica (“public matter, the state”), which Tiktin says reached Romanian along several routes.^[2] DEX and DILF give Italian republica and French république as its modern sources, the DN adds the Latin word, and MDA2 names Latin, French, German Republik and Italian.^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary gives the Italian or the French word.^[1]

The Latin compound joins rēs (“thing, matter”) and pūblicus (“of the people, public”); it was also written as one word, respublica.^[7][8] The French word was taken from Latin around 1140, Italian has repubblica from 1437–1438, and the German word came from French in the 17th century.^[9][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Romanian translation of Herodotus of 1645.^[2] MDA2's first record is the chronicle of Nicolae Costin.^[6] In the old texts the word named a state not ruled by a king, as in the ancient world.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1848 Negulici defined it as a state governed by its citizens, who all enjoy the same rights.^[12] The modern political sense, a republic as opposed to a monarchy, took shape after the French Revolution, as Nocentini notes for the Italian word and Pfeifer for the German.^[13][14]

Costinescu in 1870 already has the figurative republica literelor “the republic of letters”, after French, and the familiar use for a house with a large family.^[15][6] Scriban and the DLRLC record jocular uses for a crowd of creatures, such as “a whole republic of ants” in Hogaș.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 1645 – the Romanian translation of Herodotus, the first record.^[2]
• early 18th century – in Nicolae Costin's chronicle.^[6]
• 1848 – Negulici's definition: a state governed by its citizens.^[12]
• 1870 – Costinescu records republica literelor “the republic of letters”.^[15]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German Freistaat and Republik.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. A form of government in which the supreme organs of state power, or a president, are elected or appointed for a fixed term.^[3][6]
2. A country or state with this form of government: Republica Moldova.^[3][6]
3. (rare) The population of a republic.^[3][6]
4. (rare) republica literelor or republica literaturii: the writers as a whole, after French la république des lettres.^[6][15]

Related words

• public
• Latin rēs pūblica

Usage notes

Tiktin lists older forms: respublică, răspublică, răpublecă, republecă in Budai-Deleanu, and the shortened publică in Cantemir's history.^[2] The DLRLC still records răspublică as an obsolete variant, and MDA2 an old plural republice.^[17][6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. repúblică
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 946
4. ^ 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. republică
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. republică
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 694
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 761
12. ^ 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. republică
13. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
15. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 429
16. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1119
17. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 729
18. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 542