sentință

Forms

sentință f (plural sentințe)^[1] Older texts have the forms sentenție and sentență: Șincai writes that the emperor „ș-a trimis sentența sa” “sent his sentence”.^[2][3] Tiktin records an early form sentinție as well.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sententia (“way of thinking, opinion; judgement”) and at the same time borrowed from French sentence: the DLR, DEX and MDA2 name both sources.^[2][5][3] Tiktin gives Latin and compares Italian sentenza, while the neologism dictionaries put French first or alone, and Wiktionary names only French.^[4][6][1] French took the word from Latin around 1175, first in church law.^[7]

In Latin the noun meant a way of thinking or an opinion, and in law a verdict.^[8] The OLD takes it from *sentientia, built on the participle of sentiō (“to feel, perceive, think”), and Wiktionary gives this view beside a second one, an old formation without the ⟨i⟩.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1703, in the old form sentinție.^[4] The DLR's oldest quotations are from Cantemir, who uses sentenția for the sentence passed on a guilty man, and MDA2 also gives Cantemir as its first record.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, a court's decision on a case, has been the main one from the start; in the 19th century the DLR quotes it from official acts and the press, often as sentenția.^[2] The modern form sentință appears in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848, glossed as a judicial decision.^[9] Sentință de moarte “death sentence” is a set phrase.^[10][11]

A second sense follows the Latin and French one of a pithy saying: a maxim or aphorism, and by extension a motto.^[5][3] Figuratively the word also means a harsh verdict of blame passed on someone.^[5][12]

Timeline

• 1703 – the form sentinție, the first record.^[4]
• 1848 – sentință “judicial decision” in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1929 – sentință de moarte “death sentence” in Șăineanu's dictionary.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sentence or verdict: the decision of a court passed at first instance; also the decision of an arbitration board: Judecătorul a citit sentința în fața sălii pline.^[5][3]
2. (figurative) A harsh verdict of blame, a public condemnation.^[5][3]
3. A maxim or aphorism; by extension a motto.^[5][3]

Related words

• Latin sententia
• French sentence

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sentință
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, 860
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sentință
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. sentință
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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. sentință
10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 584
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 99
12. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. sentință