reverend

Forms

reverend m (plural reverenzi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French révérend together with Latin reverendus, as DEX 2009 and the DLR give it; the DLR and MDA2 name Medieval Latin.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu and Scriban give Latin alone.^[5][6]

The Latin adjective is the gerundive of revereor (“to revere”) and means “deserving of respect, venerable”.^[7] The French word was first reverent (1273) and took its present form in 1538 by a return to the Latin form; its use as a title for Protestant ministers came from English in 1797.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is Vasici-Ungurean's Antropologhia, printed at Buda in 1830, with the sense “worthy of respect”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, used in the 19th century in phrases such as reverendul tată “the reverend father”, became mainly a title of clergy.^[9][3] Scriban restricted it to Protestant clergy; later dictionaries name Catholic priests and monks and members of the Reformed churches, and especially Anglican ministers.^[6][2][10] Used as a noun it means a person who bears the title, as in Caragiale.^[3]

Timeline

• 1830 – first record, in Vasici-Ungurean's Antropologhia.^[4]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it “worthy of veneration, honoured”.^[9]
• 1886 – Barcianu's dictionary, German ehrwürdig.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A title given to Catholic priests or monks and to members of the Reformed churches; cuvios.^[2][1]
2. (specifically) The title of Anglican ministers; a person who bears this title.^[2][4]

Adjective

1. (dated) venerable, worthy of respect.^[4][5]

Related words

• reverendă
• reverență
• Latin reverendus

References

1. ^ a b c 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. 951
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. reverend
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 703
5. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. reverend
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1124
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 442
10. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. reverend
11. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 548