arhivă

Forms

arhivă f (plural arhive)^[1] Besides the plural arhive, an older regional plural arhivuri is recorded, and old texts also spell the word archivă.^[2][3] A neuter variant arhiv was used mostly by the Romanians of Austria-Hungary: Petru Maior writes of „arhivurile ceale vechi ale domniei Moldovei” “the old archives of the princes of Moldavia”.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French archives, the main source named by DER, DEX and DELR.^[4][5][6] According to MDA2 and NODEX it is also borrowed from German Archiv, and Marcu's dictionary of neologisms names French, German and Latin archīvum together, a case of multiple etymology.^[2][7][8] Tiktin derives it from the Greek and Latin word and compares the German one.^[9]

DELR traces the older variants to separate sources: ⟨ar(c)hivum⟩ to the New Latin archīvum, the neuter ⟨arhiv⟩ to German or New Latin, and the plural ⟨arhivii⟩ to Italian archivio.^[6] The French word is a medieval borrowing (1282) of the Late Latin archīvum, which goes back to Ancient Greek ἀρχεῖα (arkheîa), the plural of ἀρχεῖον (arkheîon, “residence of the magistrates”).^[10] The Greek noun comes from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “authority, magistracy; beginning”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin, to rule”).^[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1754.^[9] DELR has the plural arhive about 1785 and the singular arhivă in 1786, in Beldiman's translation of a Turkish history: „Canțilerie, arhivă, nimică au mai rămas” “Chancery, archive: nothing has remained”.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named both the body of documents of an institution, a town or a family and the room or building where they are kept.^[3][5] The plural arhive is often used with a singular sense, after French.^[3] The name of the state institution, Arhivele Statului “the State Archives”, is recorded by Șăineanu and the DLRM.^[11][12] CADE also records a figurative use, the “archives” of a people's past.^[13]

The family grew through the 19th century: arhivar “archivist” in 1792–1793, from New Latin archivarius and German Archivar, perhaps later felt as a derivative of arhivă;^[6] arhivist about 1832 from French archiviste; and arhivistică “the study of archives” in 1898.^[6]

Timeline

• 1754 – the first record cited by Tiktin.^[9]
• c. 1785 – the plural arhive.^[6]
• 1786 – arhivă in Beldiman.^[6][3]
• 1792–1793 – arhivar “archivist”.^[6]
• 1814 – arhivăraș “minor clerk of an archive”, in a letter of Bishop Moga.^[6]
• c. 1832 – arhivist, in Iordache Golescu.^[6]
• 1898 – arhivistică, spelled archivistică, in the Enciclopedia română.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The whole body of records or documents about the past activity of an institution, a town, a family and so on; an archive.^[5][2]
2. The office, room or institution where such records are kept;^[5][12] Arhivele Statului “the State Archives”.^[5][12]

Word family

• arhivar
• arhivist
• arhivistică

Related words

• French archives
• German Archiv

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 96
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. arhivă
4. ^ 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. arhivă
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 61
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. arhivă
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. arhivă
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. arhivă
9. ^ 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. arhivă
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 35
12. ^ a b c Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 42
13. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. arhivă