viola

Forms

viola (third-person singular present violează, past participle violat) 1st conjugation^[1] An older present without the suffix -ez, viol, vioală, is recorded: Negulici conjugated it „vioл, vioлĭ, vioaлъ” in 1848.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin violō (“to treat with violence, violate”), with French violer as a second source, a neologism of the 19th century.^[4][3][5][6] Pontbriant in 1862 gave only the Latin source.^[7] French took the verb from Latin in 1080, and used it for rape from about 1170, as Latin had.^[8]

The Latin verb is old (it is found in an early sacred law) and is usually connected with vīs (“force”), though the formation is unclear.^[9][10] De Vaan derives it instead from a deverbal adjective with the suffix ⟨-elo-⟩, built on the root Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- (“to strive after, chase”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Laurian's translation of Delavigne's handbook of philosophy (1846), in the sense “to infringe” rights: „Violând drepturile altuia, compromitem în evidență ale noastre” “By violating the rights of others we visibly endanger our own”.^[4][3] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) glosses it “to break, to trample on”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is breaking a law, a treaty or a right, common in the political prose of Bălcescu, Barițiu, Negruzzi and Eminescu.^[4] Pontbriant (1862) also gives “to take by force” and “to profane”.^[7] Șăineanu's dictionary of 1929 lists breaking an oath and violating a home.^[11] The modern dictionaries add entering a place by force, opening something by abuse (a grave, letters, the secrecy of the vote), profaning something sacred, and committing rape.^[5][3][12]

Timeline

• 1846 – first record, “to infringe (rights)”, in Laurian's translation of Delavigne.^[3][4]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[2]
• 1862 – Pontbriant gives “to take by force; to profane”.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To violate or break a law, an agreement, a convention or a right.^[5][3]
2. To enter a place by force; to open something by abuse: hoții au violat locuința “the thieves broke into the house”.^[5][12]
3. To profane something held sacred.^[5][13]
4. To rape.^[5][3][1]

Word family

• violare

Related words

• viol
• violent
• violență
• French violer

Usage notes

Viola is also the articled form of the noun violă “viola”, a separate word.^[5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, p. s.v. violare
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1485
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. viola
5. ^ 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. 1199
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. viola
7. ^ a b c Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 782
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 697
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 666
13. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. viola