țintă

Forms

țintă f (plural ținte)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic цѧта (cęta, “coin”), a word of the Old Church Slavonic layer.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu follows Miklosich, Cihac, Byhan and Conev in this.^[2] In the Ostromir Gospel and the Euchologium Sinaiticum the Slavonic word renders Ancient Greek δηνάριον (dēnárion) and νόμισμα (nómisma).^[5] It goes back to Proto-Slavic *cęta, which Vasmer and Wiktionary take through Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌽𐍄𐌿𐍃 (kintus) from a popular shortening of Latin centenionalis, the name of a small Roman coin, itself from centum (“hundred”).^[6][1][7] Vasmer rejects a derivation from quintus (“fifth”), which Scriban had also named.^[6][8]

The sense moved from the coin to things of its shape and size. Șăineanu explains it through a point scored in games, then by analogy a nail and a spot.^[9] Scriban goes from the coin to the broad-headed nail that decorates peasant belts, then to the mark aimed at.^[8] Tiktin's first literary quotation names the counters beside dice and backgammon, as gamblers' pieces.^[10] Wiktionary notes that cent is a doublet, borrowed through English.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1508, in a Slavonic-Romanian document.^[10] MDA2's first record is a text of before 1652 quoted by Tiktin.^[3] In the Slavonic-Romanian lexicon of about 1660–1670 the word glosses Slavonic намѣрение “intention”, so the sense “aim” was current by then.^[11] Miron Costin's chronicle of about 1675 describes horse harness with silver ținte, decorative studs.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The concrete senses are the oldest: a short nail with a broad head used by cobblers, saddlers and upholsterers, and the metal stud or disc set on belts and harness.^[3][10] A small white spot on the forehead of a horse or ox is called țintă too.^[10] The adjective țintat is formed on this sense.^[2][10] In the Banat and Transylvania it also means a wedge.^[2]

From the mark aimed at came the figurative senses “goal, purpose”, the object of everyone's gaze, and the adverb țintă “fixedly”, as in a se uita țintă “to stare”.^[4][8] The verbs aținti and ținti “to aim, to fix one's eyes” and țintui “to nail down” are Romanian derivatives.^[2] In recent usage -țintă forms compounds such as public-țintă “target audience”.^[12]

Timeline

• 1508 – first record, in a Slavonic-Romanian document.^[10]
• before 1652 – the first record in MDA2.^[3]
• c. 1660–1670 – glosses Slavonic намѣрение “intention” in a Slavonic-Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• c. 1675 – ținte on horse harness in Miron Costin's chronicle.^[10]
• 1834 – the verb ținti in Petru Maior.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short metal tack or stud with a broad, often decorated head, used by cobblers, saddlers and upholsterers.^[4][3]
2. În ținte, of maize: with the grains grown enough to be eaten boiled or roasted; nearly ripe.^[4]
3. (figurative) A small white spot on the forehead of a horse or of cattle; a star.^[4][8]
4. A target: the mark or place aimed at with a firearm or an arrow; also the object of someone's attention or gaze: trag la țintă “I shoot at the target”.^[4]
5. A destination, the place someone means to reach;^[4] fără țintă “aimlessly”.^[4]
6. An aim, goal or final purpose; țel, obiectiv.^[4][13]
7. (rugby) The in-goal area.^[4]

Adverb

1. A privi țintă, a se uita țintă: to look fixedly, with eyes fixed on something.^[4][8]

Word family

• țintar
• țintat
• ținteș
• țintui
• aținti
• ținti

Related words

• cent
• Old Church Slavonic цѧта (cęta)

Usage notes

MDA2 also lists two rare words spelled țintă, variants of țenti and of țentner, with their own entries.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. țintă
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, 1341
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1163
5. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org, p. s.v. цѧта
6. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. s.v. цата
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. centenionalis
8. ^ a b c d e Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1367
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 653
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. țintă
11. ^ a b 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. țintă
12. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. țintă
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. țintă