anunț

Forms

anunț n (plural anunțuri)^[1] Older texts also have anunciu and anunțiu, shaped after Latin;^[2][3] Maiorescu wrote: „Acel anunțiu al momentului nu este îndestul pentru cerințele criticei literare” “that announcement of the moment is not enough for what literary criticism demands”.^[2][3] DELR lists further old variants: anonsă (in Stamati's dictionary, 1851), anons, anonț, anuns and anunție.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French annonce (“announcement”), fitted to the Romanian verb anunța.^[4][5][3][6] DLRM, CADE and Scriban also derive it from French, and the DA calls it a noun formed after French.^[7][8][9][2] DEX 2009 and Wiktionary instead treat it as a back-formation from Romanian anunța, and DN combines the two views: formed on the verb after the French noun.^[10][1][11]

The French noun is a deverbal of annoncer (“to announce”), recorded in 1440.^[1] That verb continues Latin annūntiō (“to announce”), a compound of ad- and nūntiō, from nūntius (“messenger”), a word of obscure origin.^[12] According to DELR, the old variants in ⟨-iu⟩ follow Italian annuncio and New Latin annuntium.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1840.^[6] DELR's earliest date for the noun is 1851, for the variant anonsă in Stamati's dictionary.^[4] The sense from the start is a notice that makes something known to the public, especially one printed in a newspaper.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb came first: DELR records anunția in a Vienna calendar of 1794.^[4] The noun kept the sense of a public notice, usually printed, and by extension came to name a leaflet or the part of a newspaper that carries such notices.^[3][2] CADE adds the legal anunț judiciar, a notice published by a court, for instance to summon a person whose address is unknown or to announce a sale of property.^[8]

In the 2000s the press coined the compound anunț-șoc “shock announcement”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1794 – the verb anunția in a Vienna calendar.^[4]
• 1840 – anunț, the first record.^[6]
• 1840 – anunciator “one who announces”, in the vocabulary of Poenaru, Aaron and Hill.^[4]
• 1851 – the variant anonsă in Stamati's dictionary.^[4]
• 1867 – anunțiu in Maiorescu's Critice.^[3][2]
• 1949 – anunciator, a technical device that signals faults in a system.^[4]
• 2007 – anunț-șoc in the press.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. An announcement or notice, usually written or printed, that makes something known to the public.^[10][3][1]
2. By extension, a leaflet or the space in a newspaper given to such notices.^[3][2]
3. (law) anunț judiciar: a notice published by a court.^[8]

Related words

• anunța
• anunțător
• French annonce

Usage notes

The plural is anunțuri.^[10] A da un anunț la ziar is to place an advertisement in a newspaper.^[8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. anunț
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 76
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. anunța
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. anunț
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. anunț
7. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 34
8. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. anunț
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 109
10. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 52
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. anunț
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. annoncer
13. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. anunț