apel

Forms

apel n (plural apeluri)^[1] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) writes it appel in the transitional alphabet, glossed “challenge, call”.^[2] Costinescu (1870) spells it appelŭ and gives the phrase a face unŭ appelŭ la generositatea cui-va “to appeal to someone's generosity”.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French appel (“call”).^[4][5][6][1] The French noun was made from the verb appeler (“to call”), which goes back to Latin appellō (“to address, call upon”).^[4][7] Graur groups the word with the other Romanian descendants of Latin pellō (“to push”).^[8]

Ciorănescu notes that the sense “roll call” is a school and army term, while the sense “appeal against a sentence” and the words formed on it belong to the law.^[6] The verb apela and the adjectives apelabil, apelant and apelativ are separate loans from French, not Romanian derivatives of the noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is a document printed in the Uricariul collection, dated before 1774, with the legal sense: the prince's judgment is given in the country „fără apel” “without appeal”.^[5][9] DELR and Tiktin date the word to 1829.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, an appeal to a higher court, came first;^[5][9][11] curte de apel “court of appeal” names the court that hears such appeals.^[5][9][11] The general sense “call” followed, with apel la arme “call to arms” and the figurative a face apel la “to appeal to” someone's honour or generosity, which Negruzzi already uses.^[9][10]

The roll call, the reading out of names to check who is present, is apel nominal; the army also used the word for the bugle signal that gathers the soldiers.^[10][12] It is also used of the telephone and telegraph: a signal asking for a connection, a phone call.^[11][4]

Timeline

• before 1774 – fără apel “without appeal” in a document of the Uricariul collection.^[5][9]
• 1805 – apelanș, the older form of apelant “appellant”.^[4]
• 1829 – apel in a text of 1829, DELR's and Tiktin's first record.^[4][10]
• 1848 – appel in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[2]
• 1851 – inapelabil “without appeal”.^[4]
• 1862 – apelabil “open to appeal”, in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[4]
• 1896 – contraapel “second roll call”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A roll call: the reading out of the names of a group to check who is present: La apel au lipsit trei elevi.^[11][5]
2. A call or appeal addressed in speech or writing to a group or a person: un apel la calm.^[11][13]
3. A request or plea;^[11][5] a face apel la “to appeal to, to call on” someone or something.^[11][5]
4. (law) An appeal to a higher court to have a lower court's sentence set aside;^[11][5] curte de apel “court of appeal”.^[11][5]
5. A signal, sound or light, asking for a telephone or telegraph connection; a phone call.^[11][14]

Related words

• apela
• apelabil
• apelant
• apelativ
• inapelabil
• French appel

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. appel
3. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 56
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. apela
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 79
6. ^ a b 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. apel
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 110
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 73
9. ^ a b c d e 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. apel
10. ^ 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. apel
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 53
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. apel
13. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. apel
14. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. apel