violență

Forms

violență f (plural violențe)^[1] An older variant violință is recorded by Negulici in 1848 and in Hasdeu.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a neologism with several models, as Romanian dictionaries often give them: borrowed from French violence, with Latin violentia and Italian violenza named beside it.^[4][5][1] Wiktionary allows a learned loan from either.^[1] MDA2 names only the Latin and French words, and Scriban only the Latin one.^[6][7]

The Latin noun is formed from the adjective violentus (“violent”) with the suffix -ia,^[8] and the adjective itself is derived from vīs (“force”).^[9] The French word is inherited from Old French violence, from the Latin word;^[1] The Italian word is a learned loan from Latin, recorded from the early 14th century in Dante.^[10][9] The Romanian adjective violent belongs to the same family.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is from 1805, in Obradovici's Datorințele a subdaților, a translated schoolbook on the duties of subjects towards the monarch.^[6] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 has both violență and violință, glossed with the Latin word and with the native silnicie “force, constraint”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word came in with its two main senses: the intensity or force of something and the use of brute force against someone.^[11][7] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 glosses it with German Heftigkeit “vehemence” and Gewalttätigkeit “violent conduct”.^[12] Șăineanu's dictionary of 1929 adds the legal sense, force used against the law and public liberty, which DN and DEX keep as the breach of legal order.^[11][13][4]

MDA2 lists many finer senses, from lack of self-control and outbursts of rage to sarcasm and, in the plural, abusive words (violențe verbale).^[6] The variant violință has fallen out of use.^[3]

Timeline

• 1805 – first record, in Obradovici's translation.^[6]
• 1848 – violență and violință in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[2]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary.^[12]
• 1929 – Șăineanu's dictionary gives the legal sense.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. violence, intensity: great force or strength of something, such as a storm or a feeling.^[4][14]
2. Lack of self-control in words or deeds; vehemence, brutality: a vorbi cu violență “to speak violently”.^[4][6]
3. The use of brute force; coercion, rape; in law, any breach of legal order by force.^[4][13]
4. A violent, impulsive act.^[4]

Related words

• violent
• violenta

Usage notes

The usual pronunciation splits vi-o- into two syllables.^[4][6] The adverbial phrase cu violență means “furiously, harshly”.^[14][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. violență
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 1200
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. violență
6. ^ 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, 1486
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1408
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 698
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. 692
13. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. violență
14. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. violență