vecinătate

Forms

vecinătate f (plural vecinătăți)^[1]

Etymology

DEX and Tiktin take it as inherited from Latin vīcīnitās (“neighbourhood, nearness”),^[2][3][1] and Ciorănescu lists it under vecin as possibly from the Latin accusative vīcīnitātem, following Pușcariu.^[4] The DLR, the DLRLV and NODEX instead derive it from Romanian vecin + -ătate within Romanian, comparing the Latin word only;^[5][6][7] MDA2 gives both explanations.^[8] The Latin noun is formed on vīcīnus (“neighbouring”) with the suffix -tās.^[9][1]

The Aromanian noun vitsinãtati is likewise explained by Wiktionary as formed on the Aromanian adjective or inherited from Latin.^[10][1] Scriban compares Italian vicinità and Spanish vecindad.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1642, with the sense “neighbourhood, nearness”.^[3] MDA2 dates the word from the New Testament of 1648.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the state of being neighbours and the relation between them, which the 17th- and 18th-century chroniclers used of neighbouring countries: Constantin Cantacuzino writes of buna vecinătate “good neighbourliness” between princes.^[5] From it came the place near something, the surroundings, and, used collectively, the people who live nearby.^[2][12]

In Moldavia the word also followed the feudal sense of vecin “serf”: vecinătate was serfdom, and collectively the serfs themselves, as in Neculce and the chronicle attributed to Kogălniceanu.^[6][3] DEX keeps this as a historical sense beside iobăgie and rumânie.^[2] In Transylvania it named the informal subdivisions of a village and an association of peasants for mutual help.^[8]

Timeline

• 1642 – the first record in Tiktin.^[3]
• 1648 – in the New Testament, MDA2's first record.^[8]
• 1640–1780 – in Moldavian texts, “serfdom” and “the serfs”.^[6]
• 1801 – glossed with Latin vicinitas in Klein's dictionary.^[13]
• 1819 – armonia vecinătății “good relations between neighbours” in a document.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being neighbours or of being near something; the relation between neighbours: bună vecinătate “good neighbourliness”.^[2][11]
2. The place close to someone or something; the vicinity, the surroundings: în vecinătatea gării “near the station”.^[2][8]
3. The people who live nearby, the neighbours taken together.^[2][7]
4. (historical, Moldavia) serfdom, the condition of a vecin; also the serfs collectively.^[2][6]
5. (Transylvania, dated) an informal subdivision of a village; an association of peasants for mutual help.^[8]

Related words

• vecin
• Aromanian vitsinãtati
• Latin vīcīnitās

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 1190
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. vecinătate
4. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. vecin
5. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vecinătate
6. ^ a b c d Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 312
7. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. vecinătate
8. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1445
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1092
11. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1397
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 634
13. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 474