umil

Forms

umil m or n (feminine singular umilă, masculine plural umili, feminine/neuter plural umile)^[1] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 prints it in the transitional alphabet as ꙋmiʌ, glossing it with plecat, umilit.^[2] Scriban preferred the Latin stress úmil, úmilă and called the usual umíl no better.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin humilis (“low, lowly, humble”), a learned loan first recorded in the 19th century.^[4][5][6][1] MDA2 and Scriban compare French humble, and Marcu and Maneca Italian umile.^[7][3][8]

The Latin adjective is formed on humus (“earth, ground”), so its first sense is “low, near the ground”.^[9][3] Graur places it in the family of the same noun together with homō (“man”), which Romanian inherited as om.^[10] The Latin word itself survives in Italian and in Occitan umil.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848, which explains it as “bowed, humbled, respectful”.^[6][2] MDA2 cites it from Asachi's writings.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective took over the place of native words such as smerit: Damé in 1895 simply refers it to smerit.^[12] Șăineanu gives three senses in 1929: full of humility before God, respectful towards the great, and modest of condition.^[13] The DLR and DEX add the sense of things that are poor and plain, a humble house or origin.^[5][4][3] It is also used in formulas of politeness expressing deep respect.^[7]

Timeline

• 1848 – ꙋmiʌ in Negulici's dictionary, the first record.^[6][2]
• 1886 – umil “demütig, niedrig” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[14]
• 1931 – CADE's four senses, from “aware of one's own weakness” to “of a low rank, poor”.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. humble, modest, without pretensions; submissive, meek: Le-a mulțumit cu o voce umilă.^[4][16]
2. Showing or betraying the attitude of a humble person.^[4]
3. Of objects or places: poor, shabby, plain.^[4][8]
4. In polite formulas: expressing deep respect.^[7]

Related words

• om
• uman
• omagiu
• Latin humilis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 390
3. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1376
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1170
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. umil
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. umíl
7. ^ 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, 1369
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. umil
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 2
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 677
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 672
15. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. umil
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. umil