securitate

Forms

securitate f (plural securități)^[1] MDA2 records a rare variant segu- (seguritate).^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned loan, borrowed from Latin sēcūritās and French sécurité: MDA2, the DLR and DEX name both sources, Latin first.^[2][3][4] Tiktin gives only the Latin word, and Wiktionary only the French one.^[5][1] The Latin noun is formed sēcūrus (“free from care”) with the suffix -tās and first meant “freedom from anxiety, calmness”.^[6] French borrowed the same Latin word in 1190, but used it little before the 18th century.^[7]

The Latin adjective also reached Romanian, through Italian and Modern Greek, as sigur;^[8] Graur puts both in the family of cūra (“care”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Micu's history, dated 1801.^[5] MDA2 and the DLR open with Șincai's chronicle (MDA2 cites its 1853 edition), where a fortress wall is raised higher in the hope of “securitate și scăpare”, safety and escape.^[2][3] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 glosses the word with Latin sēcūritās, Hungarian bátorság and German Sicherheit.^[9]

Semantic evolution

At first the word named a state of mind, the confidence of someone who feels out of danger; the 19th-century quotations in the DLR speak of the “feeling of our security” and of security under the protection of the laws.^[3] Costinescu glossed it in 1870 with siguranță and calm of mind, and Pontbriant in 1862 with French sécurité and assurance.^[10][11]

In the 20th century it became a political term: securitate colectivă “collective security” between states, and the Consiliul de Securitate of the United Nations.^[12][13] The DLRLC of 1955–1957 already defines Securitatea as the state organ that watches over internal security;^[13][4] DEX now labels this sense obsolete and calls the organ repressive.^[13][4] Rodica Zafiu noted in 1990 that the Romanian name passed into French.^[14]

Timeline

• 1801 – first record, in Micu's history.^[5]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda, with Latin and Hungarian equivalents.^[9]
• 1853 – the printed edition of Șincai's chronicle, MDA2's first record.^[2]
• 1854 – in the newspaper Telegraful: a decision to pay tribute for the sake of security.^[3]
• 1953 – the state security organ and the security of borders and institutions, in the press.^[13]
• 1990 – Securitatea as the name of the communist secret police, in the press.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. security, safety: being sheltered from any danger; the confidence and calm felt when there is no danger.^[4][2]
2. protection, defence;^[4] securitate colectivă “collective security”, common defence agreed by treaty between states;^[4] securitate socială “social security”.^[4]
3. (obsolete, capitalised) Securitatea, the secret police of communist Romania.^[4][14]

Related words

• sigur
• Latin sēcūrus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 844
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. securitate
4. ^ 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. 999
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. securitate
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 35
9. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 629
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 498
11. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich
12. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
13. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 89
14. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)