sincer

Forms

sincer m or n (feminine singular sinceră, masculine plural sinceri, feminine/neuter plural sincere)^[1] The first records show the forms sențer and sencer: „Era sențer și generos” “he was sincere and generous” (Pleșoianu, 1831).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sincère and Latin sincērus (“pure, unmixed”), one of the multiple etymologies of Romanian neologisms.^[4][5][1] The DLR and MDA2 give French and Italian sincero instead, and Tiktin Italian alone.^[2][3][6] Scriban and Negulici give only the Latin word.^[7][8] The Latin adjective first meant “sound, whole, unblemished”, then “pure” and morally “sincere”.^[9][10] Its origin is unclear: de Vaan connects it with an unattested adjective *caerus (“whole, intact”), while Lewis and Short relate its first part to simplex.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a document of 1821; he glosses the word “sincere, honest”.^[6] MDA2's is Pleșoianu's translation of Fénelon's Telemachus (1831), with the form sențer for a sincere and generous man.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Romanian, as in French, the word has the moral sense: said of people who express exactly what they think and feel, and of feelings and acts free of hypocrisy.^[2][4] The physical sense of Latin sincērus returns only in a rare use for colours, “pure, intense”.^[3][4] It is also an adverb, “sincerely”: M-am bucurat sincer “I was sincerely glad”.^[12]

Timeline

• 1821 – first record, in a document.^[6]
• 1831 – sențer in Pleșoianu's Telemachus.^[3][2]
• 1848 – Negulici lists sincer among the new words, from Latin sincerus.^[8]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it with French sincère.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of people) sincere, frank: saying exactly what one thinks, acting without pretence; honest, open: un prieten sincer.^[4][3]
2. (of feelings and actions) Showing sincerity, genuine: regrete sincere.^[4][3]
3. Conforming to certain laws or principles; correct.^[4][3]
4. (rare, of colours) Pure, clean, intense.^[4][3]

Adverb

1. sincerely, honestly: Sincer, nu știu.^[1][12]

Word family

• sinceritate

Related words

• French sincère
• Latin sincērus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sincer
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 895
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1020
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. sincer
6. ^ 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. sincer
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1203
8. ^ 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. sincer
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 133
13. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 521