total

Forms

total m or n (feminine singular totală, masculine plural totali, feminine/neuter plural totale)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French total.^[2][3][4][5] Marcu and Maneca and Scriban also name Medieval Latin tōtālis beside the French word.^[6][7] The French adjective, recorded since 1370, was taken from the Medieval Latin adjective, a derivative of Latin tōtus (“whole, all”).^[8][1] Romanian tot goes back to the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825, where it means “whole, complete”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective means “including everything, entire”, and with superlative force “utmost, absolute”.^[3][2] The neuter noun names the sum of an addition and the whole made of its parts;^[9][2] Costinescu in 1870 already had în total “all told”, with French somme totale.^[9][2] Early technical uses include the total eclipse, eclipsă totală.^[10][11] MDA2 also records it of actors with the range of skills a modern performance needs.^[3]

Timeline

• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda, the first record.^[3]
• 1870 – adjective, noun and în total in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1886 – întunecime totală “total eclipse” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. total, complete: including everything; întreg, complet.^[2][3]
2. (figurative) As great as possible, utter, deplin.^[2][3]

Noun

1. The sum of an addition; the whole made up of its parts.^[2][3]
2. în total: all told, altogether.^[2][3]

Related words

• tot
• totalitate
• Latin tōtus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1133
3. ^ 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, 1245
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. total
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. total
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. total
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1333
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 625
10. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. total
11. ^ 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. 652