aplauze

Forms

aplauze n pl (plural only)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin applausus (“clapping, applause”), a learned loanword of the 19th century, and at the same time borrowed from Italian applauso: Romanian dictionaries often give two sources for such words.^[2][1][3] DELR, which records the word under its singular, names the Italian word (plural applausi) first and the Latin word second;^[4][5][6] Tiktin gives only the Italian plural, and Marcu & Maneca only the Latin.^[4][5][6]

The Latin noun is formed on applaudō (“to clap, applaud”), itself ad- added to plaudō (“to clap the hands”).^[7][8][9] The Italian noun is a learned word too, recorded from before 1406.^[8] Graur lists the Romanian word in the family of the Latin verb, beside aplauda and plauzibil.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the singular apláuz to 1821, in a text by Leon Asachi, and Tiktin has the same year.^[4][5] The sense was already the clapping of hands as a sign of approval.^[5] MDA2's first record of the plural aplauze is from before 1848, in the Uricariul.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Besides the literal clapping, the word came to mean any lively sign of approval.^[11] The singular, with the older forms apláos and apláus, is now used mostly in the plural, and Wiktionary treats aplauze as a plural-only noun.^[4][1] The verb aplauda was borrowed separately, from French applaudir, Latin applaudere and Italian, and is recorded from about 1832.^[4][11]

Romanian formed several words around the noun: a back-formed apláudă in 1838, a verb aplauzá in Alecsandri in 1844, and, much later, the ironic aplaudac for a paid or obliged applauder, first recorded in 1991.^[4]

Timeline

• 1821 – the singular apláuz in a text by Leon Asachi, the first record.^[4][5]
• c. 1832 – the verb aplauda in I. Golescu's Condica.^[4]
• 1838 – the back-formation apláudă.^[4]
• 1844 – the verb aplauzá in Alecsandri.^[4]
• before 1848 – the plural aplauze in the Uricariul.^[11]
• 1991 – aplaudac “paid applauder”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. applause: repeated clapping of the hands to show thanks, approval or admiration.^[2][1]
2. (figurative) A lively sign of approval.^[11]

Related words

• aplauda
• plauzibil
• Latin applausus

Usage notes

The word is mostly plural;^[4][11] DELR records the singular apláuz, with the older apláos and apláus, and MDA2 lists aplauz and aplaus as rare variants.^[4][11] An old plural aplaude occurs in Costache Negruzzi.^[12][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 54
3. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. aplauze
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. aplauda
5. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. aplauze
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. aplauze
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. applausus
8. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. applaudìre
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. applaudìre
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 76
11. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 80
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 103