scuza

Forms

a scuza (third-person singular present scuză, past participle scuzat, third-person subjunctive scuze), 1st conjugation^[1] The oldest forms have the Latin prefix, escusa and excusa: „Scopul marchizului Luchizini era d-a escuza purtarea turcilor” “the aim of the Marquis Lucchesini was to excuse the conduct of the Turks” (early 18th century).^[2][3] Besides the present scuz an older scuzez was used.^[3]

Etymology

It is a neologism, borrowed from Italian scusare, with a second model in French excuser: DER, MDA2, Tiktin, MDN and DLR name both, while DEX and DN give the Italian verb and compare the French one.^{[4][3][5][6][2][7][8]} Wiktionary also allows a derivation from the noun scuză.^[1] Both verbs go back to Latin excūsō (“to justify, to plead as an excuse”), literally “to put out of the case”, formed on causa (“cause, case”) with the prefix ex-.^[9][10] The Italian verb is recorded from the first half of the 13th century.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from the beginning of the 18th century, in a text printed in the Magazin istoric, in the form escuza and the sense “to present (someone's conduct) as less to blame”.^[2][3] Tiktin's first date is 1736, from a document of the Șchei of Brașov.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was transitive: to justify a deed by giving its reasons, and so to explain or motivate it.^[3][2] The forgiving sense, to accept someone's apologies, was given in 1848, when Negulici glossed the Latinist scusare as a ierta “to forgive”.^[12] The reflexive “to apologize” and the polite formula Scuzați! are the commonest uses today.^[7]

Timeline

• early 18th century – escuza “to excuse (a conduct)”, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1736 – Tiktin's first date, a Brașov document.^[5]
• 1848 – scusare “to forgive” in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive) To apologize, to say one is sorry for a mistake; to clear or justify oneself: S-a scuzat că a întârziat.^[7][13]
2. Scuzați! “Excuse me!”, a polite formula for asking pardon for a slip or a disturbance.^[7]
3. (transitive) To accept someone's apologies; to forgive, to pardon: Te rog să mă scuzi.^[7][14]
4. (transitive) To present something as less blameworthy by giving its reasons; to justify.^[3][1]

Related words

• scuză
• scuzabil
• acuza
• cauză

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. scuza
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 835
4. ^ 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. scuză
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. scuza
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. scuza
7. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 997
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. scuza
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
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. scusare
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 81
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. scuza