atlantic

Forms

atlantic m or n (feminine singular atlantică, masculine plural atlantici, feminine/neuter plural atlantice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French atlantique, according to DEX, MDA2, the neologism dictionaries and Wiktionary.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DELR gives several sources at once, as Romanian lexicography often does for learned words: borrowed from New Latin atlanticus, Modern Greek Ατλαντικός (Atlantikós), borrowed from Italian atlantico, as well as the French word.^[6] Tiktin names the Italian, Greek and Latin forms, and the DA took the word from Latin alone.^[7][8]

All of them go back to Ancient Greek Ἀτλαντικός (Atlantikós), properly “of the Atlas Mountains”, from Ἄτλας (Átlas), the Titan whom Zeus punished by making him hold up the sky.^[6][8] The name was also given to the Atlas Mountains of north-western Africa, thought of as pillars of the sky, and DELR, after Chantraine and Beekes, mentions that it may be a folk-etymological remaking of the Berber word adrār.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the phrase Marea Atlanticească “the Atlantic Sea”, with the suffix -esc, in a work of Teodor Corbea of 1691–1697.^[6] Tiktin dates atlantic to 1703, and DELR finds the present form in a text of Amfilohie of 1780–1790.^[7][6] An old variant was atlandic.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first named the ocean itself, the sea west of Europe and Africa, as in Costinescu's marea, oceanul atlantic of 1870.^[9] It then came to refer to the lands around the ocean as well.^[2][3] After the Second World War it took on a political sense, “of the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO”, recorded by MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries.^[3][4] The compounds nord-atlantic (1951) and euroatlantic (1992) belong to this sense.^[6]

Timeline

• 1691–1697 – Marea Atlanticească “the Atlantic Sea” in Teodor Corbea, the first record.^[6]
• 1703 – atlantic, Tiktin's first date.^[7]
• 1780–1790 – the form atlantic in Amfilohie.^[6]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary has marea, oceanul atlantic.^[9]
• 1882 – transatlantic “crossing the Atlantic”, a loan of French transatlantique, in Ion Ghica.^[6]
• 1951 – nord-atlantic “of the North Atlantic Alliance”.^[6]
• 1992 – euroatlantic, in a government decision.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Atlantic: of or belonging to the Atlantic Ocean or to the lands around it: climat atlantic “Atlantic climate”.^[2][3][1]
2. Of the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO).^[3][4]

Word family

• euroatlantic
• transatlantic
• nord-atlantic

Usage notes

The name of the ocean is written with a capital, Oceanul Atlantic, or simply Atlanticul.^[2][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 72
3. ^ 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, 123
4. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. atlantic
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. atlantic
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. atlantic
7. ^ 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. atlantic
8. ^ a b 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. atlantic
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 80
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 43