Proximitate și specializare semantică. Studiu diacronic asupra perechilor adevăr/adevărat și dreptate/drept în limba română
Semantic similarity and specialization. A diachronic study of adevăr/adevărat and dreptate/drept in Romanian

Summary/Abstract: This article investigates the diachronic relationship between the Romanian lexical pairs adevăr/adevărat (‘truth/true’) and dreptate/drept (‘justice, rightness/just, right’). Drawing on religious, legal, administrative, historiographical, and modern Romanian sources, the study maps both the points of contact between the two pairs and the gradual functional differentiation that emerges over time. The analysis distinguishes between contextual synonymy, where the two pairs may operate as local equivalents, and semantic convergence, understood here as a stable correlation where they remain semantically distinct yet appear in parallel or complementary contexts. The semantic proximity between the two pairs stems from a partial overlap: the first is oriented towards veridicality, correctness, and correspondence with reality, while the second foregrounds justice, legitimacy, and evaluative validation within moral, legal, or religious contexts. The study points to a process of progressive specialization. As a result, certain equivalences attested in earlier Romanian are no longer productive today, whereas a limited number of older patterns persist, in adapted forms, in modern and contemporary usage.

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