titlu

Forms

titlu n (plural titluri)^[1] Old texts have many variants: tituluș, after the Hungarian pronunciation of Latin, as in Miron Costin's „Acestu Atila craiu se scria în tituluș într-acesta chip” “this King Attila styled himself in his title in this way”.^[2][3] Neculce has the short form tit: „I-au dat și tit de domnie” “they also gave him the title of prince”.^[2] Cantemir wrote titul, and the feminines titulă and titlă also occur.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Byzantine Greek τίτλος (títlos), according to Ciorănescu and DEX, with Old Church Slavonic титлъ (titlŭ) beside it.^[3][5][1] Tiktin instead derives it from Medieval Latin titulus (“inscription, title”) and compares the Slavonic word for the forms in ⟨-tlu⟩ and ⟨-tlă⟩.^[2] MDA2 and the DLR give several sources together: Latin, Slavonic, Greek, Hungarian titulus and French titre.^[4][6] DEX names the French word as the model for the modern senses.^[5]

The old variant in ⟨-uș⟩ shows the Hungarian pronunciation of the Latin word.^[3][2] The Greek word was itself borrowed from the Latin one.^[7][1] Aromanian titlu has the same Greek source.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Eustratie's Pravila of 1632.^[2] MDA2 dates its first record to 1650–1675, a text in Gaster's chrestomathy that speaks of the title of the princes: „Acesta iaste titulușul tuturor domnilor”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word meant the title of rank of a prince, a king or a boyar, and also the inscription or heading of a text: Dosoftei's psalms speak of a psalm without a title from the Hebrews.^[2][6] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses it for the inscription on the Cross in John 19:19–20.^[10] Cantemir used it for a section of a book with its own heading.^[2] The modern senses follow French titre: a degree or qualification, a chapter of a law, the title of a book or film, a deed (titlu de proprietate), a security (titlu de valoare) and the fineness of an alloy.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1632 – first record, in Eustratie's Pravila.^[2]
• 1650–1675 – tituluș “title of a prince” in a text of Gaster's chrestomathy.^[4][6]
• 1688 – titlul, the inscription on the Cross, in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A qualification someone has earned by study or by a sporting result: titlu de doctor, titlu de campion;^[5][11] titlu de glorie is a claim to fame.^[5][11]
2. A rank or dignity, or the name of it; also a word for a social relation, such as the title of father.^[5][4][1]
3. The title or heading of a work or of a part of it; by extension a published work; the credits of a film, and in the plural its subtitles.^[5][1]
4. A chapter or numbered division of a law or a set of rules.^[5]
5. Titlu de proprietate: a deed of ownership;^[5] titlu de valoare: a security.^[5]
6. (figurative) A legal ground, a right.^[5]
7. The proportion of precious metal in an alloy, its fineness; titru.^[5]

Word family

• titula

Related words

• titular
• intitula

Usage notes

The phrase cu titlu de means “by way of, as”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. titlu
3. ^ a b c 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. titlu
4. ^ 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, 1228
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1128
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. titlu
7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1037
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 2, 94
10. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. John 19:19
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. titlu