salut

Forms

salut n (plural saluturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French salut (“greeting”), the source MDA2, the DLR, NODEX and Wiktionary give.^[2][3][4][1] DEX, DILF and MDN name several sources together, French, Latin and Italian saluto, a case of the multiple etymology of Romanian lexicography.^[5][6][7] Marcu and Maneca give French and compare Latin.^[8]

The French word continues salūtem, the accusative of the Latin noun meaning “safety, well-being”, which was also used in formulas of greeting.^[9][1] The OLD and the DHLF derive it from salvus (“safe, whole”), while Wiktionary treats the two as parallel forms going back to Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole, completed”).^[10][9][1] Wiktionary and Gabinschi set the word beside the inherited săruta, which comes from the same Latin family.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is I. Golescu's manuscript dictionary Condica limbii rumânești, written about 1832, with the sense “greeting”.^[2][3] The verb saluta is recorded a few years earlier, in 1828.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named a word, phrase or gesture of greeting, and the DLR's quotations from the 19th and 20th centuries show it for spoken formulas, bows and the military salute alike.^[3][12] It replaced older native words for a greeting, the obsolete sărutare and sărutătură and the old Turkish loan selam.^[2][3] A second sense, a speech that welcomes an assembly or an official guest, is given by the modern dictionaries.^[5][8][13]

The bare form is also used as an informal greeting, “hello”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1832 – salut “greeting” in I. Golescu's manuscript dictionary.^[2]
• 1889 – salut “salvation, welfare”, a separate learned loan from Latin, in George Barițiu.^[2][3]
• 1929 – Șăineanu's dictionary gives salut milităresc “military salute”.^[12]
• 1939 – Scriban rejects the sense “salvation” as wrong.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A word, phrase or gesture with which one greets someone; a greeting or salute.^[5][2]
2. A speech of welcome addressed to an assembly or an official guest.^[5][15]

Interjection

1. Hello!, hi! (informal).^[1]

Related words

• saluta
• săruta
• French salut
• Latin salūs

Usage notes

The plural is saluturi.^[5] A rare and obsolete salut (also salută, salute) meaning “salvation; happiness; well-being” was taken directly from Latin salūs and is recorded from 1889 in George Barițiu;^[2][3][1] DEX does not list it.^[2][3][1] Scriban criticised this use: for the name of the Protestant Salvation Army he wanted armata mântuirii, not armata salutului.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 751
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. salut
4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. salut
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 973
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
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 156
12. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 561
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 8
14. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1151
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional