aerian

Forms

aerian m or n (feminine singular aeriană, masculine plural aerieni, feminine/neuter plural aeriene)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French aérien (“aerial”), as DELR, Tiktin, the DA, MDA2 and DEX agree.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} DELR lists it in the family of aer, and Wiktionary notes that within Romanian it reads as that noun with the suffix -ian.^[2][1] The French adjective continues Old French aerien, a learned formation on Latin āēr (“air”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to about 1832, in I. Golescu's Condica.^[2][3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defines it as “made of air, belonging to the air, living in the air”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first senses were “made of air, living or happening in the air”, as in plante aeriane and Alecsandri's spider that weaves „o punte aeriană” “an aerial bridge”.^[4][7] A figurative sense, “light and transparent as air, delicate”, appears in Eminescu: „văd ființa-i aeriană” “I see her airy being”.^[4][3] With aviation came “relating to aircraft”, with linie aeriană “air route” and alarmă aeriană “air-raid warning”, and DELR records antiaerian “anti-aircraft”, after French antiaérien, from 1937.^[6][2] Colloquially a person who is aerian is absent-minded, out of touch with reality.^[8][9]

Timeline

• c. 1832 – in I. Golescu's Condica, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[7]
• 1875 – Alecsandri's poems, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1893–1895 – Damé: rădăcini aeriane “aerial roots”.^[10]
• 1931 – CADE lists gaz aerian “lighting gas”.^[11]
• 1937 – antiaerian “anti-aircraft”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Found in the air; happening or produced in the air: rădăcini aeriane “aerial roots”.^[6][1]
2. Relating to aviation: linie aeriană “air route”, alarmă aeriană “air-raid warning”, atac aerian “air attack”.^[6][5]
3. (figurative) diaphanous, transparent, delicate, airy.^[6][12]
4. (colloquial, of people) absent-minded, dreamy, out of touch with reality.^[8][9]

Related words

• aer
• aerisi
• antiaerian

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. aer
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. aerian
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. aerian
5. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 20
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 16
7. ^ 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. aerian
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. aerian
9. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. aerian
10. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. aerian
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. aerian
12. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. aerian