tribunal

Forms

tribunal n (plural tribunale)^[1] Regional speech has trebunal and tribunar: „Am să-ți fac proces-verbal / Să te dau la trebunal” “I'll write you up a report and take you to court”, in a folk verse.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin tribūnal (“judgement seat”), taken over more than once: MDA2 names French tribunal, Latin and Polish trybunał as its sources, and the DLR Latin, Polish and French.^[4][2] Tiktin calls it a learned borrowing of the Latin word, partly through other languages;^[3][1] DEX and MDN give French and Latin together.^[3][5][6][1]

The Latin word was the raised platform from which a magistrate gave judgement; it is the neuter of an adjective formed on tribūnus (“tribune”), which comes from tribus (“tribe”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Simion Dascălul's additions to the Moldavian chronicle, about 1669, explaining that anyone may take his case to a higher seat of judgement, called a tribunal.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1831 on, documents speak of tribunaluri and tribunale.^[2] In the old organization of the courts the tribunal was the court of a county, between the judecătorie and the court of appeal, with special tribunals for trade, for minor offences and for the army.^[2][5] It also came to mean the building where such a court sits and the judges who try a case.^[2][5]

Scriban and Șăineanu also record a figurative sense, as in tribunalul conștiinței “the tribunal of conscience”.^[8][9]

Timeline

• c. 1669 – tribunal in Simion Dascălul's additions to the Moldavian chronicle, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1831 – tribunalile in Curierul românesc.^[2]
• 1835 – the duties of the tribunaluri fixed by law.^[2]
• 1839 – tribunalul de comerț “commercial court”.^[2]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary gives the senses “courtroom” and “court”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A court of law that settles disputes between persons, or between persons and institutions, and hears certain appeals; formerly the court of a county, between the lower court and the court of appeal.^[5][1]
2. The building where such a court sits, a courthouse.^[5][1]
3. The bench of judges that tries a case.^[5][11]
4. (history) The raised platform in a Roman basilica or camp where magistrates or commanders sat.^[6]
5. (figurative) A judgement seat in a moral sense: tribunalul opiniei publice “the court of public opinion”.^[9][8]

Related words

• tribun
• tribună

Usage notes

The plural is tribunale;^[4][5] tribunaluri is old.^[4] Set phrases include tribunal militar “court martial”.^[2][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tribunal
3. ^ 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. tribunal
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1277
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1145
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. tribunal
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1346
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 666
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 640
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. tribunal
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. tribunal