valoros

Forms

valoros m or n (feminine singular valoroasă, masculine plural valoroși, feminine/neuter plural valoroase)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French valeureux (“brave”); the Academy's dictionaries add borrowed from Italian valoroso.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} By surface analysis it is from Romanian valoare + -os, and Scriban takes it as a Romanian derivative of valoare, comparing the French and Italian words.^[7][1]

The French adjective is formed on valeur (“value, valour”) with the suffix -eux; the Italian, recorded from the 14th century, on valore with -oso.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in Costinescu's dictionary of 1870, which glosses it as “full of courage” and translates it with French valeureux.^[9] MDA2 gives Barițiu's Părți alese din istoria Transilvaniei of 1889 as the first record.^[4] DLR quotes it in the sense “brave” in Aristia's translation of Plutarch and in Filimon.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was that of the French model, “brave, valiant”; it is now obsolete.^[3][4] Antonescu's dictionary (1875) still gives only valeureux, and Șăineanu (1929) only “courageous, brave”.^[10][11]

Under the influence of valoare “value” the word came to mean “valuable, of great worth”: Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 already glosses it with German “rich in content, valuable, weighty”.^[12] For people it came to mean “gifted, capable, of merit”, quoted from Vlahuță onward, and for goods “of commercial value, precious”.^[3][4] MDA2 also records it for medicines and substances in the sense “effective”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1870 – in Costinescu's dictionary, “full of courage”.^[9]
• 1875 – in Antonescu's dictionary, French valeureux.^[10]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it as “valuable, weighty”.^[12]
• 1889 – Barițiu, MDA2's first record.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. valuable: that has value, qualities or merits, often outstanding.^[2]
2. Of people: gifted with special moral and intellectual qualities; capable, talented: un medic valoros “a gifted doctor”.^[13][4]
3. That is of importance or particular interest to someone; precious.^[13][4]
4. Of goods and objects: having a commercial value; costly.^[4]
5. (obsolete) Brave, valiant.^[3][4]

Related words

• valoare
• French valeureux

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1182
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. valoros
4. ^ 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, 1410
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1390
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. valore
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 675
10. ^ a b Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 327
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 686
12. ^ 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. 681
13. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. valoros