serios

Forms

serios m or n (feminine singular serioasă, masculine plural serioși, feminine/neuter plural serioase)^[1] The old variant serioz: „strălucind pe obrazul lor cel serioz o dulce și liniștită înțelepciune” “a sweet and quiet wisdom shining on their serious face” (Pleșoianu).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sérieux, with Italian serioso beside it, as Ciorănescu gives it.^[4] MDA2 and Marcu add Latin seriosus, and Marcu & Maneca compare the Medieval Latin word.^{[4][3][5][6][1]} Like many neologisms, it has several sources in the dictionaries.^[3][4]

The French word was borrowed around 1370 from Medieval Latin seriosus, recorded from the 13th century, a derivative of serius (“grave, earnest”).^[7] Wiktionary calls it a Late Latin formation with the suffix -ōsus.^[1] The Italian word is recorded from Boccaccio, before 1375.^[8] Nocentini compares the Latin adjective with Lithuanian svarùs (“heavy”) and Old High German swāri (“heavy, grievous”), so that its first sense was “heavy”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Molnar's translation of Millot's universal history (1800).^[3] There a small thing gave the fickle people occasion for „petreceri serioase sau dinadinse” “serious or deliberate pastimes”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first uses describe a grave, solemn manner, face or tone, as in Heliade's “her serious, calm voice” and Pelimon's “a serious face”.^[2] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) still explains it: severe, not cheerful; true, done in earnest.^[10]

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 gives a luoa unŭ lucru în seriosŭ, la seriosŭ “to take a thing seriously”, with the French prendre au sérieux.^[11] Later senses are “thorough, conscientious” of work and people, and “dangerous, grave” of an illness.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1800 – serioase in Molnar's translation of Millot, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1848 – listed in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1870 – a lua în serios in Costinescu's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. serious, grave, sober; not given to jokes or frivolity; staid.^[12][3] Also: having a stern or solemn look; without merriment;^[12][3] (of clothes) sober.^[12][3]
2. Who goes into things thoroughly and acts with care and conscientiousness; looking absorbed or concerned.^[12][3]
3. To be taken seriously; real, true.^[12] Of work: thorough, deep.^[12] Of a situation: that may have grave consequences, dangerous: o rană serioasă “a serious wound”.^[12]
4. Important, of note.^[12]

Adverb

1. Without joking; truly: Vorbesc serios. “I'm serious.”^[12][14]
2. Thoroughly; earnestly, determinedly.^[12]

Noun

1. (rare) Seriousness; in cu tot seriosul “in all seriousness” and a lua în serios “to take seriously”.^[12][3]

Word family

• seriozitate
• neserios

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. serios
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 863
4. ^ a b c 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. serios
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. serios
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. serios
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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. 359
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 508
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1008
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1191
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 103