armătură

Forms

armătură f (plural armături)^[1]

Etymology

The word came into Romanian in two layers.^[2][3] In the old sense “armour, weapons” it is borrowed from Polish armatura, with New Latin armatura as a learned model, DELR says, and in the old language possibly also Latin armātūra (“armour, equipment”);^[2][4][5] Tiktin names Medieval Latin armatura and compares the Polish word, and the REW also takes the Romanian word first from Polish.^[2][4][5] Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the DA and Scriban connect it with the Latin word.^[2][6] Wiktionary takes this older word as inherited from the Latin word, and so a doublet of armură.^[1] Hasdeu already insisted that in this sense the word was no neologism.^[7] DELR and Tiktin see the plural sense “coat of arms” as a calque of French armoiries.^[2][4]

In its modern technical senses the word is borrowed from French armature, taken over in the 19th century;^[2][8][9] DN also names Italian armatura and the Latin word as models, with its form adapted to armă.^[2][8][9] The Latin noun is formed from armō (“to arm”) with -tūra.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților (1682–1686), in the old sense “armour, the whole of one's weapons”.^[2][3] Hasdeu and Tiktin quote it from the reading for 30 November (1683): „după ce să-mbrăcară cu platoșile în toată armătura” “after they had put on their breastplates in full armour”.^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word meant armour and weapons, a soldier's equipment, and an arsenal.^[2][3] In the plural it meant a coat of arms, as in Negruzzi's „armăturile Besarabiei” “the arms of Bessarabia”.^[7][10] The army phrase ofițer cu armătura named the officer in charge of a unit's weapons.^[3][11]

The technical senses date from 1840, when a dictionary by Poenaru, Aaron and Hill records the variant armatură.^[2] Today the word names the steel bars of reinforced concrete, the props of a mine gallery, the fittings of pipework, the control devices of a machine, the plates of a capacitor and the sheath of a cable.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1682 – armătură “armour” in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1683 – toată armătura “full armour” in the reading for 30 November.^[4][7]
• 1840 – the technical sense, as armatură, borrowed from French.^[2]
• 19th century – the plural armături “coat of arms” in Negruzzi.^[7][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The steel bars joined together that reinforce a structure, especially of reinforced concrete; also the structure that props up an underground gallery.^[12][8]
2. The metal fittings of an installation of pipes or conduits.^[12][3]
3. The control, safety and regulating devices fitted to an installation or machine; the conductors of a capacitor; the protective sheath of an electric cable.^[12][13]
4. (sculpture) A rigid metal frame on which clay or plaster is built up.^[12]
5. (biology) armătură bucală: the mouthparts of insects and crustaceans.^[12][9]
6. (obsolete) Armour; a soldier's weapons and equipment; an arsenal.^[3][2][10]
7. (obsolete, in the plural) A coat of arms.^[3][10]

Related words

• armatură
• armă
• armură
• arma
• Latin armātūra
• French armature

Usage notes

Wiktionary splits the word into two etymologies: an archaic armătură “armour”, inherited from Latin, and a armătură “coat of arms; reinforcing bars” borrowed from French.^[1] DEX and MDA2 have one headword, and DELR keeps the two layers apart as armătură¹ and armătură².^[12][3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. armă
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, 100
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. armătură
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 123
7. ^ a b c d e Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. armătură
8. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. armătură
9. ^ a b c Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. armătură
10. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. armătură
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 128
12. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 62
13. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. armătură