atelier

Forms

atelier n (plural ateliere)^[1] The first record, in Albina românească of 1832, has the form atelié.^[2] A popular form atiler is also recorded.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French atelier (“workshop”), one of the French loans of the 19th century.^{[2][4][5][3][1]} The French word first meant a carpenter's workshop: it continues Old French astelier, properly the place where wood chips gather, formed on astelle (“small piece of wood, splinter”).^[2][6] That word goes back to Latin astella (“splinter”), from *astla, a form of assula, the diminutive of assis (“board, plank”).^[2] DHLF dates the Old French word to 1332, “heap of wood”, and the workshop sense to 1362.^[7]

The recent sense “working group, seminar” was modelled on English workshop.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in 1832 in Albina românească, in the form atelié.^[2][5] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) explains it as a workroom, the room where the masters of any trade and artists work.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covered both a craftsman's workshop and an artist's studio, the two senses DEX still gives.^[9][4] By metonymy it also names all the workers of a workshop, and in industry a section of a factory where one operation is done.^[4][10] In Transylvania and Hungary the native lucrătoare was used for it;^[6][11] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 refers the reader from atelier to that word.^[6][11]

Under communism the compound atelier-școală named the school workshops where pupils did practical work, recorded from 1963.^[8] From 1982 the word also means a working group or seminar, after English workshop.^[8][2]

Timeline

• 1832 – atelié in Albina românească, the first record.^[2][5]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1955 – autoatelier, a workshop fitted on a lorry.^[2]
• 1963 – atelier-școală “school workshop”.^[8]
• 1977 – miniatelier “small workshop”.^[2]
• 1982 – the sense “workshop, seminar”, after English.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A workshop: premises with the tools or machines for organized craft or industrial work: atelier de tâmplărie “joiner's workshop”.^[4][1]
2. A section of an industrial plant where the same operation is carried out or the same product made.^[4]
3. All the workers of a workshop.^[4][12]
4. A studio: the room or rooms where a painter or sculptor works.^[4]
5. The artists, pupils or students who work under the same master in a studio.^[4][12]
6. A working group, seminar.^[2][8]

Word family

• autoatelier
• miniatelier

Related words

• lucrătoare
• French atelier

Usage notes

Set phrases include secrete de atelier “trade secrets” and a nu fi ieșit din atelier “to be still at the design or testing stage”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. atelier
3. ^ 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, 121
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 71
5. ^ 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. atelier
6. ^ a b c 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. atelier
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. atelier
8. ^ a b c d e f Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. atelier
9. ^ a b c 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. 52
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. atelier
11. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 44
12. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. atelier