șansă

Forms

șansă f (plural șanse)^[1] The first form was a neuter șans, plural șansuri: „ai mai multe șansuri să vezi acele zile fericite” “you have more chances of seeing those happy days” (Kogălniceanu).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French chance, the only source the dictionaries name.^{[5][4][6][2][3][1]}

The French word, first recorded about 1175, comes from Old French cheance (“accident, chance, luck”), which continues Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“a falling”).^[7][8][1] This was the neuter plural of the present participle of Latin cadō (“to fall”), taken as a feminine, and Latin used it of the fall of the knucklebones in games.^[7][9] Wiktionary and Gabinschi set it beside cadență, from the same Latin word.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1835, in Costache Negruzzi, who also used a neuter șans, plural șansuri.^[3] MDA2's first record is Kogălniceanu's letters (1834–1849), where it means a chance of something happening.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The neuter șans of Kogălniceanu, Negruzzi and Codrescu gave way to the feminine șansă, modelled on the French gender.^[2][3] The senses are a favourable circumstance, a probability of success, a possibility and luck; the word usually goes with the verb a avea “to have”.^[2][4] In the plural it also means “the odds”.^[6][4] Șăineanu glosses it simply as noroc “luck”, and Scriban compares the old word năstav.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1835 – in Costache Negruzzi, Tiktin's first record.^[3]
• 1834–1849 – the plural șansuri in Kogălniceanu's letters, MDA2's first record.^[4][2]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it as “luck”.^[10]
• 1939 – Scriban gives “prospect of success” and “luck”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A favourable circumstance; a chance or likelihood of success.^[6][4]
2. Good luck.^[6][4][12]
3. (in the plural) The odds, the lots.^[6][4]

Related words

• cadență
• noroc
• French chance

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. șansă
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. șansă
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1085
5. ^ 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. șansă
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1084
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
9. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 71
10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 564
11. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1275
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional