specialist

Forms

specialist m (plural specialiști, feminine equivalent specialistă)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French spécialiste, a 19th-century neologism.^[2][3][4][1] MDA2 and the DLR name Italian specialista and German Spezialist as sources too, and NODEX gives French and German, an instance of the multiple etymology of Romanian neologisms.^[5][6][7] Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed as from Romanian special + -ist.^[1] Scriban too took it as a derivative of the adjective.^[8]

The German word is borrowed from the French one.^[1] Kluge treats it as the agent noun of spezial, borrowed from Latin speciālis, from speciēs (“kind, form”).^[9] The Italian word is recorded from 1873, when Tommaseo and Bellini's dictionary condemned it;^[10][11] Nocentini dates it to the first half of the 19th century.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DLR's first record is Polizu's dictionary of 1857, and its first quotation, from before 1872, says a subject is to be set out for the whole educated public and not only for specialists.^[6] MDA2 gives the same quotation the date before 1827, which the DLR's 1872 suggests is a misprint.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

From the first records the word names a person who knows one field thoroughly, often with în and the field: Caragiale wrote that he was no specialist in pedagogy.^[6] In medicine, Bianu's medical dictionary of 1910 lists specialists in diseases of the eyes, nose, larynx and skin.^[6] Șăineanu defined it as one who works on one particular kind of thing, “a specialist in eye diseases”.^[12] Today medic specialist is also a grade in the hierarchy of doctors, between the medic secundar “resident” and the medic primar “senior consultant”.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1857 – recorded in Polizu's dictionary, the DLR's first record.^[6]
• before 1872 – “specialists” as opposed to the educated public, the DLR's first quotation.^[6]
• 1893–1895 – Damé's dictionary glosses it with French spécialiste.^[13]
• 1910 – specialists in diseases of the eyes and nose in Bianu's medical dictionary.^[6]
• 1939 – Scriban defines it as a person with special studies.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A specialist, an expert: a person who knows a discipline or a problem thoroughly and works in it: un specialist în informatică “a computer specialist”.^[2][5][3]
2. (medicine) medic specialist: the first grade of the medical hierarchy, between medic secundar and medic primar; a doctor of this grade.^[2][5]

Adjective

1. Having thorough knowledge of a field: profesori specialiști “teachers trained in their subject”.^[5][6]

Related words

• special
• French spécialiste

Usage notes

The feminine is specialistă; the ⟨ci⟩ is pronounced as a separate syllable, spe-ci-a-list.^[2][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1038
3. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. specialist
4. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 788
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 948
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. specialist
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. specialist
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1227
9. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 866
10. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 607
13. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. specialist
14. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. specialist