social

Forms

social m or n (feminine singular socială, masculine plural sociali, feminine/neuter plural sociale)^[1] The first records spell it soțial, a form MDA2 lists as old and regional: Pleșoianu's Telemachus speaks of „datoriile soțiale și omenești” “social and human duties”.^[2][3] In Negulici's dictionary of 1848 it is printed in the transitional alphabet as SOЧIAΛ.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French social and also borrowed from Latin sociālis (“of a companion or ally, social”): DEX, MDA2 and the DLR name French and Latin, and for MDA2, the DLR, NODEX and Marcu & Maneca it is also borrowed from Italian sociale.^{[5][3][2][6][7]} Wiktionary names French alone, Scriban Latin alone.^[1][8] The Latin adjective is formed on socius (“companion, ally”) with the suffix -ālis.^[9][1] The French and the Italian adjectives were both taken from Latin, the Italian one in the 14th century.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is G. Pleșoianu's translation of Fénelon's Telemachus, printed at Sibiu in 1831, where someone swears to renounce the world to escape his social duties, written soțiale.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The DLR's early quotations belong to the vocabulary of society and politics: viața socială “social life” and reforma așezămintelor sociale “the reform of social institutions”.^[2] Negulici defined it in 1848 as what concerns society and is necessary or useful to it.^[4] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 gives both virtuțile sociale “the social virtues” and the commercial sense of a company, rațiune socială “a firm's name”.^[11] Nocentini traces the modern Italian sense “of human society” to Rousseau's Contrat social of 1761.^[12]

Later senses tie it to class and group membership, as in origine socială “social origin”, and to plants that grow in large colonies.^[13][3] The press of the 1990s formed compounds such as social-liberal and social-liberalism.^[14]

Timeline

• 1831 – soțiale in Pleșoianu's translation of Fénelon's Telemachus, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[4]
• 1870 – Costinescu records virtuțile sociale and the company sense.^[11]
• 1997 – social-liberalism in the press.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. social: created by society or proper to it; concerning people's life and relations in society.^[5][3]
2. Proper to a given type of society; tied to membership of a class or group: origine socială “social origin”.^[5][13]
3. Of a commercial company: capital social “share capital”.^[13][3]
4. (botany) Of plants: growing together in large numbers.^[3]
5. (rare) Sociable.^[3]

Noun

1. (neuter) The whole of the problems of human society: socialul.^[3]

Related words

• societate
• sociabil

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. social
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, 922
4. ^ a b c 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. social
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1029
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. social
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. social
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1217
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. sociale
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 529
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. sociale
13. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 164
14. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. social