avantaj

Forms

avantaj n (plural avantaje)^[1] The old variant avantagiu, with the plurals avantagii and avantagiuri, follows Italian: „eră un mare avantagiu să aibă înaintea lor, în limba ţării, cuprinsul cronicelor latine” “it was a great advantage to have before them, in the language of the country, the content of the Latin chronicles” (Iorga).^[2][3] The old plural was avantajuri.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French avantage, formed on avant (“before”), which goes back to Latin abante.^[3][5][1][6] The old variant avantagiu reflects Italian avvantaggio as well.^[3][7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1824, in Costache Negruzzi's Pirostia Elenei, in the form avantagiu; the form avantaj appears around 1832 in Iordache Golescu.^[3][8] The sense was “benefit, advantage”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant a benefit or profit that one gets over another, and a superiority based on a favourable situation.^[3][2] In 19th-century administrative and diplomatic texts it also meant a favour or privilege granted to someone: the Uricariul speaks of the advantages that the regulations secured for landowners.^[2][4] In tennis it names the point won from deuce.^[4][9]

The DA records that the word became popular in some regions in the clipped form avânt;^[2] DELR treats this as a one-off distortion, recorded once in Dolj in 1906.^[2][3] Its derivatives came from French too: avantajos (1847), avantaja (1862) and dezavantaj (1848).^[3]

Timeline

• 1824 – first record, as avantagiu, in Negruzzi's Pirostia Elenei.^[3][8]
• c. 1832 – the form avantaj in Iordache Golescu.^[3]
• 1847 – avantajos “advantageous”.^[3]
• 1848 – dezavantagiu in Negulici's dictionary.^[3]
• before 1855 – in the Uricariul.^[4]
• 1862 – avantaja “to give an advantage to”.^[3]
• 1906 – the clipped regional avânt in Dolj.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An advantage: a benefit or profit that one gets over someone else.^[5][1]
2. A favour or privilege that someone or something enjoys.^[5][4]
3. superiority of someone or something based on a favourable situation: Echipa gazdă a avut avantajul terenului.^[5][4]
4. (tennis) The point won by one player when the score stands at forty all.^[4][9]

Word family

• avantaja
• avantajos
• dezavantaj
• dezavantaja
• dezavantajos

Usage notes

The phrase în avantajul means “to the benefit of”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. avantaj
3. ^ 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. avantaj
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 144
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 80
6. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 20
7. ^ 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. avantaj
8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. avantaj
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România