asalt

Forms

asalt n (plural asalturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian assalto (“assault”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Ciorănescu places the borrowing in the 19th century, but Tiktin and DELR have records from the late 18th century.^[3][4][2] Scriban names French assaut beside the Italian word.^[7]

The Italian noun goes back to Vulgar Latin *assaltus, a form of Latin assultus (“an attack”) remade on *assaliō, which stands for Latin assiliō (“to leap at”) with the vowel ⟨a⟩ of the simple verb saliō (“to leap”).^[2][8] The DELI dates the Italian word to the late 13th century, Nocentini to the first half of that century; the Romance cognates include Catalan assalt, Spanish asalto and Portuguese assalto.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Enache Kogălniceanu's chronicle, about 1780, in the phrase a lua cu asalt “to take by storm”: the Russians laid siege to Bender, „pe care l-au luat cu asalt și cu mare moarte de ambe părțile” “which they took by storm, with great loss of life on both sides”.^[4][5] DELR's record is Văcărescu's history of 1794, where the word is explained with iureș.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The military sense, a decisive attack to take a fortified place, came first and is still the main one.^[5][10] From it Romanian made the verbal phrases a da asalt “to attack” and a lua cu asalt “to take by storm”, the second also figuratively, as in taking everyone's hearts by storm.^[4][6] An early figurative use quoted by Hasdeu speaks of Cupid's triple assaults.^[5] A second sense, a bout in fencing, is recorded by the DA and Scriban.^[5][7] Other figurative uses followed: a determined campaign against something, and in CADE and Scriban a crowd of petitioners pressing for a favour.^[10][11][7]

Timeline

• c. 1780 – luat cu asalt “taken by storm” in Enache Kogălniceanu's chronicle.^[4][5]
• 1794 – in Văcărescu's history.^[2]
• 1834 – the verb asalta “to storm”, from Italian assaltare.^[2]
• 1840 – asaltator “attacker”.^[2]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary spells it assaltŭ.^[12]
• 1931 – CADE records the fencing sense and the figurative crowd of petitioners.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) A decisive assault to capture a fortified place or objective, or to break the enemy's resistance.^[10][6][1]
2. In a da asalt “to attack, to storm” and a lua cu asalt “to take by storm”.^[10][6]
3. (figurative) A determined action or struggle against something.^[10][13]
4. A bout or exercise in fencing with the foil.^[10][6]

Word family

• asalta

Related words

• salt
• Italian assalto

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. asalt
3. ^ 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. asalt
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. asalt
5. ^ 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. asalt
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 107
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 127
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. assalto
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. assaltare
10. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 65
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. asalt
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 75
13. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. asalt