verifica

Forms

verifica (third-person singular present verifică, past participle verificat, third-person subjunctive verifice), 1st conjugation^[1] MDA2 records a rare old variant verifia.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French vérifier, a 19th-century loan also modelled on Late Latin vērificō (“to present as true”), as MDA2, the DLR and DEX give it.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary has French only.^[1] The French verb was borrowed in 1296 from Late Latin.^[5] The Latin verb, first recorded in the 5th century, is formed from vērus (“true”) and faciō (“to make”).^[1][5] Graur lists it in the family of the Latin adjective, with adevăr and văr “cousin”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to I. Golescu's manuscript dictionary Condica limbii rumânești, about 1832.^[2] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 has it as verificare, “to make the truth of something seen”, conjugated verific, verifici, verifică.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is to establish that a statement or theory is true by checking it against the facts.^[3][2] Pontbriant in 1862 explained it by Latin verum facere and glossed it French vérifier and “to examine whether a thing is exact”.^[8] The modern sense is the wider one of checking that something meets requirements, and of testing machines and instruments.^[4][2] It is also used of persons: to examine how far someone is fit for a post.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1832 – first record, in I. Golescu's Condica.^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary.^[7]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To check something to see whether it is true, accurate, or up to standard; to verify: Verifică încă o dată adresa.^[4][2][1]
2. To examine someone's work to see how far they are fit for their post.^[4]
3. (reflexive, of persons) To prove oneself to be of a certain kind.^[2]

Word family

• verificare
• verificator

Related words

• adevăr
• adeveri
• French vérifier

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1459
3. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. verifica
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1193
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 108
7. ^ 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. verificare
8. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 776