suficient

Forms

suficient m or n (feminine singular suficientă, masculine plural suficienți, feminine/neuter plural suficiente)^[1] A rare variant is suficiinte.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin sufficiēns, with Italian sufficiente as a second model.^[2][3][1] DEX 2009 takes it from Latin and compares the Italian word, and Scriban also gives the Latin.^[4][5] The neologism dictionaries compare French suffisant beside the Italian and Latin forms.^[6][7] The Latin adjective is the participle of sufficiō “to be adequate”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in A. Marin's 1857 translation of Pouillet's physics, where telescopes must gather enough light to permit large magnifications cu o claritate suficientă “with sufficient clarity”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

DLR's quotations for “enough, adequate” run from Marin to Maiorescu, Conta and Caragiale.^[3] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 glosses it with German hinlänglich.^[9] The figurative sense “conceited, self-satisfied” is recorded by Șăineanu in 1929 and by Scriban in 1939.^[10][5] In schools suficient became the grade between insuficient and bine.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1857 – claritate suficientă in A. Marin's physics, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1929 – the figurative sense “arrogant, presumptuous”.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sufficient, adequate: present in the quantity needed, as much as is required; synonyms destul, de ajuns.^[4][2]
2. (of people) conceited: having a high and unjustified opinion of oneself, full of oneself.^[4][2]

Adverb

1. Sufficiently, enough: Am dormit suficient.^[4][1]

Noun

1. (masculine) The school or examination grade between insuficient and bine, “satisfactory”.^[4][2]

Related words

• suficiență
• insuficient
• Latin sufficiēns

Usage notes

In logic, principiul rațiunii suficiente is the principle of sufficient reason.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1045
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. suficient
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1069
5. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1262
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. suficient
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. suficient
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sufficiens
9. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 620
10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 626