viitor

Forms

viitor m or n (feminine singular viitoare, masculine plural viitori, feminine/neuter plural viitoare)^[1] The old variant venitor occurs in Maior's history: „cînd au avut știre de venitoarea întîmpinare a protivnicilor” “when they had news of the coming encounter with the enemy”.^[2] DLR also lists the old forms viitoriu, vietor and venitoriu, and an old plural viitoruri of the noun.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian veni + -tor, according to DEX and Wiktionary;^[3][1] DLR and MDA2 give the suffix as -itor.^[3][1][2][4] Ciorănescu explains the vowel: the adjective was built on the subjunctive ⟨să viu, să vie⟩, as puitor was formed on pune.^[5] Scriban takes it from the older variant venitor, contracted as ⟨viind⟩ beside ⟨venind⟩.^[6] The verb itself continues Latin veniō (“to come”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in a Gospel book of 1551–1553, at Matthew 16:27.^[7] MDA2's first record is Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581.^[4] The oldest sense was “coming, approaching”: in the Bible of 1688 Isaac, walking in the field, „văzu cămile viitoare” “saw camels coming”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective the word first described someone or something on the way: the Cantacuzino chronicle has the Tatars send word that they are viitori “coming” into the country against the Germans, and Greceanu that the prince himself is viitor “on his way”.^[2] MDA2 also records old senses “arriving” and “coming on a visit”.^[4] The temporal sense “to come, future” developed beside them; in Christian use viața viitoare is the life to come and judecata viitoare the Last Judgement.^[4][3]

As a neuter noun it means “the future”: Tiktin quotes Bolintineanu's line Viitor de aur țara noastră are “our country has a golden future”.^[7] The plural viitoruri is rare;^[3] Vlahuță used it of plans for the future.^[7] In grammar timpul viitor is the future tense.^[3] Scriban records a regional feminine noun of eastern Muntenia meaning a flood of water.^[6]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – first record, in a Gospel book (Matthew 16:27).^[7]
• 1581 – in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[4]
• 1660 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[8]
• 1688 – cămile viitoare “camels coming” in the Bucharest Bible.^[9][2]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary: viitoriu “coming, future”.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. future, coming after the present;^[3] viața viitoare (religion) the life after death;^[3] timpul viitor (grammar) the future tense.^[3]
2. next: anul viitor next year.^[1][6]
3. prospective, to be: viitorul director the director-to-be.^[1][6]
4. (obsolete) Coming, approaching; arriving.^[4][2]

Noun

1. The time that follows the present;^[3] pe viitor, în viitor from now on.^[3]
2. Prospects, the situation someone can expect;^[3] a avea viitor to have good prospects;^[3] de viitor promising.^[3]

Word family

• viitorime

Related words

• veni
• viitură

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. viitor
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1198
4. ^ 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, 1479
5. ^ a b 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. veni
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1406
7. ^ 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. viitor
8. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. viitor
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 24:63
10. ^ 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. 475