student

Forms

student m (plural studenți, feminine equivalent studentă)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian studente, with German Student as a second source, as DEX, MDA2, Tiktin and the DLR give it;^[2][3][4][5] DEX and MDN add borrowed from Latin studēns, and DN puts the German word first.^[2][6][7] Ciorănescu derives it from the Italian word alone, among the derivatives of studia.^[8] Scriban gave Latin and compared French étudiant.^[9]

The Italian noun, recorded before 1400, is a learned word from the Latin present participle of studeō (“to apply oneself, to study”).^[10][11] The German word goes back to the Medieval Latin participle as well.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first quotation in the DLR is from Eustatievici: a pupil's prayer to a baron, where student explains ucenic.^[5] The first dated record is of 1829: a periodical reports that the students of the day number 628.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In 1848 Negulici glossed the word with the native școlar “pupil”,^[12] and Costinescu in 1870 defined it as one who studies at a college or a university.^[13] The sense narrowed to “university student”;^[3] MDA2 still records a sense “secondary-school pupil”, and DLR's definition includes, now rarely, the pupils of higher schools.^[3][5] In regional speech the word became an adjective meaning “skilled”, “learned” or “clever”.^[3]

DER lists the derivatives studentă, studențesc and studențime “the student body”.^[8]

Timeline

• 1829 – the first dated record, in a periodical.^[4][5]
• 1848 – in Negulici, glossed școlar.^[12]
• 1870 – Costinescu defines it as a student of a college or university.^[13]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German Student.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A student: a person attending the courses of a university or another institution of higher education.^[2][3]
2. (dated) A pupil of a secondary school.^[3]

Adjective

1. (regional, of people) Skilled; learned; clever.^[3]

Word family

• studentă
• studențesc
• studențime

Related words

• studia
• studiu
• Latin studeō

Usage notes

The feminine is studentă.^[2] MDA2 records the rare variant studinte, the old studint and ștudent, and the regional studient and ștudient.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1062
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1024
4. ^ 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. student
5. ^ 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. student
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. student
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. student
8. ^ 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. studia
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1255
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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. s.v. student
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 567
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 616