sacrifica

Forms

sacrifica (present sacrific, third-person singular sacrifică; past participle sacrificat; subjunctive să sacrifice), first conjugation^[1][2] An old variant sacrifia was formed on the French verb.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sacrificō (“to offer a sacrifice”) and French sacrifier, the two sources DEX, MDN, DILF and NODEX name.^[2][5][6][7] MDA2 and DLR give Latin as the source;^[4][3] DLR takes the old variant sacrifia from French.^[4][3] DN compares the Italian, Latin and French verbs, and Wiktionary also names Italian sacrificare.^[8][1] The Latin verb is a compound of sacer (“sacred”) and faciō (“to do, make”), originally “to perform a sacred rite”.^[9][1][10] French borrowed it from Latin in 1119.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and DLR give as the first record I. Golescu's dictionary Condica limbii rumânești, a manuscript of about 1832.^[4][3] Negulici (1848) still lists the Latinizing infinitive sacrificare and explains it as making an offering, a jertvă, to God.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the religious offering of a living being to a deity, beside the older native jertfi.^[3][4] In the middle of the 19th century the verb took the sense “to give up something or someone for another aim”, frequent in Ghica, Filimon and Bolintineanu, and the reflexive a se sacrifica “to devote oneself to the point of self-sacrifice”.^[3] Killing animals for science or for food, in Babeș and in the press of the 1950s, is a later extension.^[3][2] DEX now lists giving up first and the ancient sacrifice last.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1832 – in I. Golescu's Condica limbii rumânești, the first record.^[4][3]
• 1848 – sacrificare in Negulici, “to make an offering to God”.^[11]
• 1862 – Pontbriant: “to sacrifice, immolate”, from Latin.^[12]
• 1875 – Antonescu glosses it with French sacrifier, immoler.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive) To give up someone or something in favour of another or for the sake of an aim.^[2][4]
2. (reflexive) To devote oneself to someone or something to the point of self-sacrifice.^[2][4]
3. (transitive) To slaughter animals for scientific purposes or for food.^[2][4]
4. (transitive, in antiquity) To offer animals or people as a sacrifice to a deity; jertfi.^[2][4]

Related words

• sacrificiu
• Latin sacrificō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 971
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sacrifica
4. ^ 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, 744
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. sacrifica
6. ^ 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. sacrifica
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. sacrifica
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. sacrifica
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ 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. sacrifica
12. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 644
13. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 273