specie

Forms

specie f (plural specii)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin speciēs (“look, appearance; kind, species”).^[2][3][1] DER dates the borrowing to the 19th century;^[4] MDA2 adds Italian specie as a second source,^[5] the NODEX also German and French, and DEX compares French espèce.^[6][2] The noun is formed from Latin speciō (“to look at”) + -iēs.^[7][1]

The variant speță has other sources: DER takes it from spezie,^[4] Gabinschi from Italian and German Spezies.^[8] The DLR takes the old forms spețieș and șpețiaș from the German word.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1752.^[3] The early texts the DLR quotes are arithmetic books, in which the word names the four operations of arithmetic, as in Șincai's cele patru spețiașuri sau lucrări ale arithmeticii “the four species or operations of arithmetic”.^[9][5]

Semantic evolution

The arithmetic sense “operation” is now obsolete.^[9][5] In logic the word was the class below a genus, a sense Micu used with the native word spiță,^[9] and the biological sense, the basic rank below the genus, grew out of it.^[9][2] Șincai also used spețieșuri for spices sent from India, pepper among them, which is the sense of the word's Romance descendants such as épice.^[9][10] Scriban records a plural for mixtures of medicinal herbs for infusions, and the phrase în specie “in this particular case”.^[11] Barițiu's dictionary of 1869 gives specie, soiu and rasa for Hungarian fajta “kind, breed”.^[12] The literary sense, a class of works within a literary genre, belongs to the 20th-century dictionaries.^[13][6]

Timeline

• 1752 – Tiktin's first record.^[3]
• 1829 – cele patru spețiĭ arithmetice “the four arithmetical operations” taught in schools, in a periodical quoted by the DLR.^[9]
• 1869 – specie “kind, breed” in Barițiu's Hungarian–Romanian dictionary.^[12]
• 1886 – specie “kind” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[14]
• 1939 – Scriban records the pharmaceutical plural and în specie.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (biology) A species: the basic category of classification below the genus, grouping animals or plants with shared traits.^[2][5]
2. A sort, kind, variety; a class or category: o specie de oameni pe care n-o înțeleg.^[2]
3. (logic) A notion covering a class of objects with the same essential properties, subordinate to a genus.^[2][5]
4. (literature) In specie literară: a class of literary works within a genre, such as the novel or the short story.^[13][6]
5. (mathematics, obsolete) An operation of arithmetic.^[5][9]

Related words

• speță
• special
• specific
• specimen
• specios
• spițer
• Latin speciēs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1038
3. ^ 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. specie
4. ^ a b 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. specie
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 Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. specie
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 162
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. specie
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8131
11. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1227
12. ^ a b Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 161
13. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. specie
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 600