specific

Forms

specific m or n (feminine singular specifică, masculine plural specifici, feminine/neuter plural specifice)^[1] Negulici's dictionary of 1848, in the transitional alphabet, gives both specific and spețific (SПEЧIFIК, SПEЦIFIК).^[2] MDA2 lists spețific as an old variant.^[3]

Etymology

It is a learned word with several possible sources, the “multiple etymology” of Romanian neologisms.^[3][4] DEX, the DLRM and the DILF give borrowed from French spécifique;^[5][6][7] MDA2 and the DLR name Late Latin specificus, Italian specifico, French and German spezifisch;^[3][8] Tiktin names the New Latin adjective and Italian,^[9] and the MDN French and Latin.^[4] Scriban took it from Medieval Latin.^[10] The Latin adjective is formed on speciēs (“kind”) with -ficus (“making”).^[1] Graur groups it with the other Romance loans of the family of speciō (“to look”), such as specie and special.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1813.^[9] The DLR's early quotations are medical and scientific: a medicine's “specific action”, the “specific” taste of salts and the specific names of plants.^[8] MDA2's first record is Polizu's Romanian–German dictionary of 1857.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Negulici in 1848 defined it as “proper to something in particular”, and used the noun for a medicine whose effect is certain in a given case.^[2] That noun sense stayed in the older dictionaries: Șăineanu cites quinine for intermittent fevers and iodine for goitre as specifice.^[12] Scriban adds the physical terms greutate specifică “specific gravity” and căldură specifică “specific heat”.^[10] The DLRLC and the DN record the noun in the sense “the distinctive character of something”, as in specific național, the features of a culture that come from a people's own traits and history.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1813 – the first record Tiktin gives.^[9]
• 1848 – Negulici lists specific and spețific, with the noun sense “specific medicine”.^[2]
• 1857 – in Polizu's dictionary, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it German eigen, eigentümlich, spezifisch.^[15]
• 1955–1957 – the DLRLC gives the noun “distinctive character” as a separate headword.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Proper to a single being, thing or phenomenon, or to one class of them; characteristic, distinctive, particular.^[5][3]
2. Relating to a unit of measure or of quantity: greutate specifică “specific gravity”.^[5][14]
3. (dated) Of a medicine: intended for one particular disease.^[3][16]

Noun

1. The distinctive character of someone or something; its particular note: specificul național “the national character (of a culture)”.^[5][13][4]
2. (dated) A medicine for a particular disease.^[3][10]

Related words

• specifica
• specie
• special

Usage notes

The adjective is also used as an adverb, “specifically”: o mâncare specific românească is “a typically Romanian dish”.^[14][3] The verb specifica “to specify” is a separate loan of the same family.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
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, 948
4. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1038
6. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
7. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
8. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. specific
9. ^ 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. specífic
10. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1228
11. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 607
13. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
14. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 188
15. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 600
16. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc