universitate

Forms

universitate f (plural universități)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French université, with Latin ūniversitās (“the whole; a corporation”) as a second, learned source; the DEX, the MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries give both sources, while Tiktin and Scriban give only the Latin word.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin noun is formed on ūniversus (“whole, entire”) with the suffix -tās.^[7][1] An older variant universitet is from German Universität.^[8][3]

The French word was borrowed from Latin in 1214, first for a professional corporation; in Medieval Latin the phrase universitas magistrorum named the body of masters, and by the mid-13th century the word named the institutions of higher learning.^[9] Compare Aromanian univirsitati.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Molnar's German–Romanian grammar of 1788.^[5] An early quotation in the DLR, from Maior, names the „crăiasca tipografie a universității crăiești” “the royal press of the royal university”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 1820s and 1830s it named the universities of Europe: the DLR quotes the students of Dorpat in 1829 and the founding of the university of Córdoba in the same year.^[8] The Organic Regulations provided for sending young men to the most enlightened universities of Europe, and Negulici explained the word in 1848 as a great school, an academy.^[8][10] Romania's own universities followed: Scriban dates Iași to 1860 and Bucharest to 1864.^[6]

The Latinist writers also used it in the Latin sense “totality”, today found only in set phrases.^[3] In Transylvanian history it named a corporate body: universitatea nobililor “the estate of the nobles” and, in Barcianu's dictionary of 1886, universitatea săsească, the Saxon University, the community of the Saxons on the former royal land.^[3][11] Phrases now obsolete or specialised are universitate de partid, a party school teaching Marxism-Leninism, and universitate populară, an institution of adult education.^[2]

Timeline

• 1788 – Molnar's grammar, the first record.^[5]
• 1829 – the universities of Dorpat and Córdoba in the press.^[8]
• 1848 – universitate in Negulici's dictionary.^[10]
• 1853 – Șincai's chronicle in its first edition, the MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1886 – universitatea săsească in Barcianu's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A university: an institution of higher education organised in faculties and departments.^[2][3]
2. universitate populară: an institution of adult education that offers cycles of lectures in various fields;^[2] (obsolete) universitate de partid: a party school.^[2]
3. The building of such an institution.^[2][12]
4. The whole teaching staff and students of a university.^[3][6]
5. (history) A corporate body in Transylvania: universitatea nobililor “the nobility”, universitatea săsească “the Saxon University”.^[3][11]
6. (Latinist, obsolete) totality.^[3]

Related words

• univers
• universal
• universitar
• Latin ūniversitās

Usage notes

A rare second universitate, in Filimon, means “universality”; the DLR derives it from universal with the suffix -itate.^[8][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1173
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1379
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. universitate
5. ^ 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. universitate
6. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1380
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ūniuersitās
8. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. universitate
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b 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. universitate
11. ^ a b c Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 674
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. universitate