sentiment

Forms

sentiment n (plural sentimente)^[1] Early texts also have sentement (plural sentemente and sentementuri), sintement, sintiment and simtiment, and an old plural sentimenturi: „să-și ascunză sentimenturile ei cele amăgitoare” “to hide her deceitful feelings” (Pleșoianu, 1831).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sentiment, and DLR, MDA2 and NODEX add a direct borrowed from Medieval Latin sentimentum, while DEX, MDN and DILF give only French.^{[3][2][4][5][6]} Tiktin, Scriban and DN name Italian sentimento beside French.^[7][8][9] Gabinschi calls it a learned Latin–Romance loan, the Medieval Latin word being formed from Latin sentiō (“to feel”) with -mentum.^[10][1] The French word comes from Old French sentement.^[1]

The form simtiment was made by association with the native simț and simți.^[3] The native simțământ is formed on the same model, and Gabinschi puts it in one word nest with this word.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to Heliade's grammar of 1828.^[7] MDA2 and DLR start with Pleșoianu's translation of Fénelon's Telemachus (1831), and DLR also quotes a newspaper of 1829 praising someone's „sentimenturile... cele nobile” “noble feelings”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word came in with the translations and newspapers of the 1820s and 1830s and kept many shapes for a while.^[3] Costinescu (1870) sends the reader from sentiment to simțiment, and Barcianu (1886) to simțământ, the Latinist and native forms they preferred.^[11][12] Damé still labelled it a neologism in the 1890s.^[13]

Besides a feeling, it came to mean the faculty of feeling, a consciousness of something (sentimentul datoriei “the sense of duty”) and an inner conviction.^[14][5] Colloquially cu sentiment means “with passion” and fără sentiment “coldly”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1828 – first record, in Heliade's grammar.^[7]
• 1829 – sentimenturile in a newspaper.^[3]
• 1831 – sentimenturile in Pleșoianu's Telemachus.^[2][3]
• 1870 – Costinescu prefers simțiment.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feeling: a lasting emotional state or attitude towards people, things or oneself; simțământ; also affection.^[5][2]
2. The faculty of feeling, knowing or appreciating something; awareness: sentimentul responsabilității “a sense of responsibility”.^[5][15]
3. A belief, an inner impression or conviction: are sentimentul că a greșit “he feels he has made a mistake”.^[5]

Related words

• simțământ
• simți
• simț
• sentimental
• French sentiment

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 860
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. sentiment
4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. sentiment
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1006
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. sentiment
7. ^ 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. sentiment
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1189
9. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. sentiment
10. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 158
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 504
12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 580
13. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. sentiment
14. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 584
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 99