strict

Forms

strict m or n (feminine singular strictă, masculine plural stricți, feminine/neuter plural stricte)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French strict and directly borrowed from Latin strictus (“drawn tight; strict”), the two sources DEX, the DLR and MDA2 give.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu names only the French word, Scriban only the Latin one.^[5][6] The Latin adjective is the past participle of stringō (“to tighten, bind”).^[7][8] French borrowed it from Latin at the start of the 18th century.^[9]

The same Latin participle, in a Vulgar Latin form with a nasal, was inherited as strâmt “narrow”, so it is a doublet of this word.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DLR quotes a Moldavian document of 1817 calling for the strictă păzire “strict observance” of a law, published in Codrescu's Uricariul.^[3] MDA2 cites the same collection, dated by its edition of 1852.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 lists it with the Latin strictus and explains it as “rigorous, severe, harsh”.^[12] From the rule that admits no exception it was applied to a person who keeps or enforces rules closely.^[2][4] Costinescu still gave it the Latin senses “tight, narrow, short” in 1870.^[13] As an adverb it intensifies: strict necesar “strictly necessary”, strict interzis “strictly forbidden”.^[2][14] MDA2 lists sensul strict “the strict, narrowest sense” of a word.^[4] Botany and mathematics have their own uses: a stiff plant organ, a strict inequality.^[15]

Timeline

• 1817 – stricta păzire in a Moldavian document.^[3]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[12]
• 1852 – the date MDA2 gives, from the edition of the Uricariul.^[4]
• 1870 – in Costinescu's dictionary.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. strict, rigorous: to be kept or applied exactly, with no exception; often used as an adverb: strict necesar “strictly necessary”.^[2][4][1]
2. (by extension) severe, stern.^[2][4]
3. Precise, exact;^[2][4] în sensul strict “in the narrow sense”.^[2][4]
4. (botany) Stiff, rigid.^[16][15]

Word family

• strictețe

Related words

• strâmt
• strânge

Usage notes

The masculine plural is stricți, the feminine plural stricte.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1060
3. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. strict
4. ^ 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, 1016
5. ^ 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. strict
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1252
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. strictus
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 97
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. strict
10. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. strâmt
11. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 165
12. ^ 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. 373
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 565
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. strict
15. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. strict
16. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. strict