alcool

Forms

alcool n (plural alcooluri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French alcool.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The French word first named a fine powder used as a medicine; it comes from Spanish alcohol, from Arabic اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl), the Arabic article with the word for antimony powder used as eye paint.^[2] The sense “essence obtained by distillation, spirit of wine” arose in the scholarly Latin of the 16th century, alcohol, probably with Paracelsus, as DELR reports after the TLFi.^[2] Wiktionary derives the French word from the Latin one, and that from the Arabic.^[1]

The early form alcohol is borrowed from German Alkohol, and Tiktin names German beside French for the word itself.^[2][6] The DA notes that this form follows the German pronunciation.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1813, in the form alcohol, in Maior's work on wine.^[2][6] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 has alcool as “pure spirit of wine”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word came in as a term of chemistry and pharmacy for the spirit distilled from wine.^[8][9] Chemistry later widened it to a whole class of compounds formed from hydrocarbons, and these took the masculine plural alcooli, while the liquid and the drink keep the neuter plural alcooluri.^[3][4] The sense “alcoholic drink” is recorded by the mid-20th-century dictionaries.^[10][3] The everyday word for the liquid is still spirt.^[4][7]

The family came from French too: alcoolic (1840), alcoolat (1859), alcoolism (1886) and alcoolemie (1969).^[2]

Timeline

• 1813 – alcohol, in Maior's work on wine.^[2][6]
• 1840 – alcoolic “containing alcohol”.^[2]
• 1848 – alcool “pure spirit of wine” in Negulici's dictionary.^[8]
• 1859 – alcoolat.^[2]
• 1886 – alcoolism, in Barcianu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1969 – alcoolemie “blood alcohol level”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry; masculine, plural alcooli) An organic compound formed by replacing a hydrogen atom of a hydrocarbon with a hydroxyl group.^[3][4]
2. (neuter, plural alcooluri) ethanol: the colourless, flammable liquid made by fermenting the sugars of grain or fruit, used in spirits, as a disinfectant and as a fuel;^[3][1] alcool sanitar “surgical spirit”, alcool denaturat “denatured alcohol”.^[3][1]
3. An alcoholic drink, liquor.^[3][1]

Word family

• alcoolat
• alcoolemie
• alcoolism
• alcooliza
• alcoolmetrie
• alcoolmetru
• antialcoolic
• dezalcooliza
• nealcoolic

Related words

• alcoolic
• spirt

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. alcool
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 26
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 37
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. alcool
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. alcool
7. ^ a b 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. alcool
8. ^ 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. alcool
9. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 30
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 57