alimentare

Forms

alimentare f (plural alimentări)^[1]

Etymology

It is the long infinitive of alimenta, formed from Romanian alimenta + -re, and became an abstract noun of action.^[2][1][3][4] The verb is from French alimenter, recorded in Romanian from 1848.^[5][6] Aliment itself comes from French aliment and, as a learned word, from Latin alimentum, formed on alō (“to nourish”).^[5] Some dictionaries also compare Italian alimentare for the verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before the noun, the form alimentare was the infinitive of the verb in the Latinist dictionaries: Costinescu (1870) and Laurian and Massim list it as a verb “to feed, to nourish”.^[7][8] As a feminine noun meaning “feeding, alimentation” it is entered in Damé's dictionary of 1893.^[9] MDA2 gives the Academy dictionary of 1913 as its first record.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the giving or taking of food, nourishment.^[2][3] In the 20th century the word took on the industrial and technical sense of the verb: supplying a machine, a plant or a city with fuel, raw material, water or energy.^[3][10] The compound electroalimentare “supply with electric current” is recorded from 1953.^[5] A figurative sense, the feeding or sharpening of a conflict or a feeling, follows the verb.^[3]

Timeline

• 1848 – the verb alimenta, in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[5]
• 1870 – alimentare as the infinitive of the verb in Costinescu's dictionary.^[7]
• 1893 – alimentare as a noun, glossed French alimentation.^[9]
• 1913 – the noun in the Academy dictionary (DA), the first record MDA2 gives.^[3][2]
• 1931 – entered beside alimentațiune and alimentație.^[11]
• 1953 – electroalimentare “supply with electric current”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of feeding or of being fed; nourishment, nutrition.^[12][3]
2. The supply of a machine, a plant or an installation with the fuel, raw material or energy it needs: alimentarea cu apă a orașului “the city's water supply”.^[3][10]
3. (figurative) The sharpening or fuelling of a conflict or an unpleasant state.^[3]

Related words

• alimenta
• aliment
• alimentar
• alimentație

Usage notes

The form alimentare is also the feminine plural of the adjective alimentar “of food”, borrowed from French alimentaire and recorded from 1856: produse alimentare “foodstuffs”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. alimentare
3. ^ 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. 1, 43
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
5. ^ 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. aliment
6. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. alimenta
7. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 32
8. ^ Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. 1
9. ^ a b Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 1
10. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
12. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 29