banană

Forms

banană f (plural banane)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French banane.^[2][3][4][1] The French word is from Portuguese banana, which DELR traces to a West African word, probably Wolof banaana.^[3] The DHLF takes the Portuguese word, recorded in 1562, from a language of Guinea; the fruit was brought from West Africa to Brazil by the Portuguese.^[5] The older dictionaries had other views: the DA called the French word a loan from the dialects of India, and Scriban gave it an Indian origin.^[6][7]

The early variant bananasă comes from an old French plural, spelled ⟨bananas⟩.^[3] Marcu and Maneca name the Portuguese word beside the French one.^[8] The name of the plant, banan, is a back-formation from the name of the fruit, modelled on French bananier;^[2][3] Ciorănescu compares the pair prună and prun.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the variant bananasă in a text of L. Asachi of 1821, naming the edible fruit of a tropical plant; the form banană follows in 1840, in the dictionary of Poenaru, Aaron and Hill.^[3] Tiktin has a record of 1835.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The fruit is the only sense in the older dictionaries.^[7][10] A second sense came from the shape: a small metal plug, half covered by insulation, fitted to the end of an electric lead.^[11][4] In the 2000s the press used the word for an inflatable pleasure boat towed over the water, so named for its shape.^[12] It is also a slang word for the penis.^[13]

The tree name bananier is recorded in 1821, the same year as the fruit, and is now also an adjective for an underdeveloped country with a corrupt regime, as in republică bananieră.^[3]

Timeline

• 1562 – Portuguese banana;^[5] French bannanas 1598, banane 1602.^[5]
• 1821 – the variant bananasă and bananier in L. Asachi.^[3]
• 1835 – banană in Tiktin's first record.^[9]
• 1840 – banană and banan in Poenaru, Aaron and Hill's dictionary.^[3]
• 1929 – the fruit described in Panțu's botanical vocabulary.^[14][6]
• 2003 – the inflatable pleasure boat called banană in the press.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A banana: the long yellow fruit of the banan, with a soft, sweet, floury flesh.^[4][14][1]
2. A banana plug: a small metal pin half covered in insulation, fixed to the end of an electric lead to make contact.^[4][15]
3. An inflatable pleasure boat towed by a motorboat, shaped like the fruit.^[12]
4. (slang) The penis.^[13]

Word family

• banan
• bananier

Related words

• French banane
• Portuguese banana

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. banană
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. banană
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 87
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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. banană
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 148
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. banană
9. ^ 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. banánă
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. banană
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 193
12. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. banánă
13. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. banană
14. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 162
15. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. banană