super

Forms

super (indeclinable adjective; adverb)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French super (“great”).^[2][1] The French word goes back to Latin super (“over, above”), which Romanian also inherited as the preposition spre.^[1][3] The Latin word continues Proto-Indo-European *upér (“over, above”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words quotes it from 2000, in Rodica Zafiu's notes in România literară: „E super poza, îmi place” “the photo is great, I like it”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It spread fast in colloquial speech: a press count of 2003 found it the word most used by television presenters.^[5] Volceanov records it as teenage slang for “terrific”.^[6] Later press quotations combine it with ok: super ok “really fine”.^[5]

Timeline

• 2000 – „E super poza” “the photo is great”, quoted in România literară.^[5]
• 2003 – reported as the word most used by television presenters.^[5]
• 2009 – super ok in the press.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (colloquial) great, terrific, excellent.^[2][1][6]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) extremely well, superbly.^[2][1][5]

Related words

• spre
• Latin super

Usage notes

Super- is also a learned prefix meaning “over, above, very” (DEX's super¹), from French super- and Latin super, in words such as superfosfat and superpune.^[2][7] MDA2 explains it as taken out of such loanwords and dates it from 1956.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1074
3. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. super
6. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. super
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. super-
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1059