util

Forms

util m or n (feminine singular utilă, masculine plural utili, feminine/neuter plural utile)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French utile (“useful”), with Latin ūtilis (“useful”) as a second source, as MDA2, DEX 2009 and Wiktionary give it; the DLR adds Italian utile.^[2][3][1][4] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848 gave the Latin word as its source, and Scriban too derived it from Latin.^[5][6] The Latin word is formed from ūtor (“to use”) with the suffix -ilis.^[1][7] The French word is a semi-learned borrowing of the same Latin word, recorded since the 12th century.^[8]

Scriban stressed it ⟨útil⟩, as in Latin, and called the stress ⟨utíl⟩, after French, wrong; the standard stress today is ⟨utíl⟩.^[6][3] MDA2 records a rare variant ⟨utile⟩.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Negulici's vocabulary of neologisms of 1848, which glossed it with the native folositor and trebuincios “useful, needed”.^[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 already gave the noun use, a uni plăcutul cu utilul “to combine the pleasant with the useful”, matching French joindre l'agréable à l'utile.^[9] The DLR quotes the adjective from writers from the 1880s on: useful precepts, useful work, useful advice.^[4] Of a person it means “of help to someone”: Spune-mi la ce pot să-ți fiu util “tell me how I can be of use to you” in Caragiale.^[2][10] CADE adds a technical sense, lucru util or energie utilă, the work a motor does against its actual load.^[11] The phrase în timp util “in good time, while there is still time” is in the modern dictionaries.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1848 – util in Negulici's vocabulary, the first record.^[5][2]
• 1870 – the noun utilul “the useful” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1883 – “useful precepts” in a text quoted by the DLR.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. useful: that serves some purpose; folositor, necessary.^[3][2][1]
2. Of a person: helpful, of help to someone: Încerc să fiu util echipei.^[2][1]
3. în timp util: in good time, at the right moment, before it is too late.^[3][2]

Noun

1. That which is useful: a îmbina utilul cu plăcutul.^[3][9]

Related words

• utilitate
• utiliza
• inutil
• French utile
• Latin ūtilis

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 Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1401
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1179
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. util
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1386
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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, 670
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 607
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească