simpatic

Forms

simpatic m or n (feminine singular simpatică, masculine plural simpatici, feminine/neuter plural simpatice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sympathique and Italian simpatico: MDA2, DLR and the dictionary of Marcu and Maneca name both, while DEX and Wiktionary give only the French word.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Within Romanian it can be analysed as simpatie with the suffix -ic.^[1] Scriban traced it straight to an Ancient Greek adjective.^[6]

The French adjective comes from sympathie, from Late Latin sympathia, which is from Ancient Greek συμπάθεια (sumpátheia, “fellow feeling”), formed on πάθος (páthos, “suffering, feeling”) with the prefix συν- (sun-, “with”).^[1][7] The Italian adjective is formed simpatia with -ico;^[1][8] DELI dates the Italian noun, in the sense “attraction”, to 1560.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and DLR cite the first record from Ion Budai-Deleanu's Romanian–German lexicon of 1818.^[2][3] Negulici in 1848 defined it as belonging to the causes and effects of sympathy, and Costinescu in 1870 similarly.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The common modern sense, “likeable, attractive”, is well established in the second half of the 19th century, in Hasdeu, Maiorescu, Odobescu and Caragiale.^[3] DEX keeps the older sense “showing sympathy” as dated, and “favourable” as rare.^[5]

From medicine and chemistry came two technical uses: sistemul nervos simpatic, the sympathetic nervous system, also called marele simpatic as a neuter noun, and cerneală simpatică, invisible ink that shows only when heated or treated.^[5][4][6]

Timeline

• 1818 – first record, in Budai-Deleanu's lexicon.^[2][3]
• 1848 – listed by Negulici among the new words.^[9]
• 1875 – Antonescu glosses it with French sympathique.^[11]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German sympathisch, mitfühlend.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. likeable, pleasant, attractive; inspiring sympathy: un om simpatic “a nice person”.^[5][3][1]
2. (dated) Showing sympathy, full of sympathy;^[5][1] (rare) favourable.^[5][1]
3. In cerneală simpatică: invisible ink, which appears only with heat or special solutions.^[5][4]
4. (anatomy) Belonging to the sympathetic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that regulates glands and internal organs; as a neuter noun, marele simpatic “the great sympathetic”.^[5][4][3]

Related words

• simpatie
• antipatic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 891
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. simpatic
4. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
5. ^ 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. 1019
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1201
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
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
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 518
11. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 288
12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 588