riscant

Forms

riscant m or n (feminine singular riscantă, masculine plural riscanți, feminine/neuter plural riscante)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German riskant (“risky”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Marcu & Maneca compare French risquant instead,^[6] and Pfeifer names the regional French word beside the German adjective.^[7] By its form it matches Romanian risc with the suffix -ant.^[1]

The German adjective is recorded from about 1800 and became common in the 20th century.^[7] It belongs to Risiko, which the merchants of southern Germany took in the 16th century from Italian risico (now rischio) “danger, venture”.^[7][8] The source of the Italian word is uncertain: Pfeifer starts from Vulgar Latin *resecum (“cliff”), from resecō (“to cut off”), while Kluge prefers a derivative of Latin rixor (“to quarrel”).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dictionary record found is in DLRLC (1955–1957), which defines it as “risked” of situations or actions.^[9] DLR quotes Titus Popovici on gas-fitting as a risky trade.^[4] MDA2 dates it only from DEX (1975).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word is used of situations and actions full of risks, and also as an adverb in the construction e riscant “it is risky”, which DLR quotes from a periodical of February 1962.^[4][10]

Timeline

• 1955–1957 – DLRLC's entry, the first dictionary record.^[9]
• 1962 – the adverbial use in a periodical.^[4]
• 1975 – DEX, MDA2's first record.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of situations or actions: full of risks, exposed to dangers; uncertain, risky; riscat.^[2][3]
2. (adverbial) Riskily: A fost riscant să plece singur.^[4][10]

Related words

• risc
• risca

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 957
3. ^ 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, 714
4. ^ 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. riscant
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
8. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional