timid

Forms

timid m or n (feminine singular timidă, masculine plural timizi, feminine/neuter plural timide)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French timide, with borrowed from Latin timidus (“fearful, timid”) as a second model.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Scriban names only the Latin word, NODEX puts it first.^[6][7]

The Latin adjective is formed from timeō (“to fear”) with the suffix -idus.^[8][1] French took it from Latin in 1528, first as a learned word meaning “afraid”; the sense “lacking self-assurance” developed from the 17th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Negulici's dictionary of new words of 1848, which glosses it with Latin timidus and Romanian fricos “fearful”.^[10] Tiktin dates it to 1854, and MDA2 to Costinescu's dictionary of 1870.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's gloss “fearful” is close to the Latin sense; later dictionaries explain it with sfios “shy”.^[10][11][12] DLR quotes it for people lacking courage or self-confidence from Bolintineanu, Delavrancea, Rebreanu and Sadoveanu.^[4]

Eminescu used it figuratively of light: „O rază timidă în ziua rece” “a timid ray in the cold day”.^[5][4] DLRLC and MDA2 record the figurative senses “delicate, frail” and “modest, barely begun”.^[13][3] It is also used as an adverb and often as a noun, un timid “a shy person”.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of new words, glossed “fearful”.^[10]
• 1854 – the first record Tiktin gives.^[5]
• 1870 – in Costinescu's Romanian–French dictionary.^[3]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German schüchtern “shy”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lacking boldness or self-confidence; shy, sfios; often used as a noun: un timid “a shy person”.^[2][3][1]
2. Of acts or qualities: showing such a nature, as a shy smile.^[2][13]
3. (figurative) delicate, frail; modest, only beginning.^[13][3][15]

Word family

• timiditate

Related words

• sfios
• fricos
• French timide
• Latin timidus

Usage notes

Scriban stresses it tímid, on the first syllable, as in Latin.^[6] The plurals are timizi and timide.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. 1125
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1219
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. timid
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. timíd
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1318
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. timid
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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, p. s.v. timid
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 652
12. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. timid
13. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 426
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 646
15. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. timid