barieră

Forms

barieră f (plural bariere)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French barrière.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The French noun is derived from barre (“bar, beam”).^[6][7] DELR places the word in the family of bară, beside bara and baraj.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1830, with the sense of a movable bar that stops traffic on a road.^[2][5] MDA2 and the DA cite Constantin Negruzzi, where it is the starting line of a horse race: „Dinaintea galeriei este bariera de unde pleacă alergătorii” “In front of the stand is the barrier from which the runners start”.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

From the bar the word passed to the place where it stood, in particular the gate of a town, where goods brought in for sale paid a toll; the DA and Scriban describe the excise office there.^[6][7][4] Pisone's dictionary of 1865 glosses it as a guard at the town gate.^[8] Ciorănescu notes that this sense went out of use when the town tolls were abolished in 1903.^[3] The town gate then gave the sense “edge of town, outskirts”.^[4][9] DEX puts first the bar at a railway crossing and the figurative “obstacle”, with modern phrases such as barieră socială “social barrier”.^[9] In school slang a barieră is the mark five, the lowest pass.^[10]

Timeline

• 1830 – first record, for the bar that closes a road.^[2][5]
• 1865 – Pisone glosses it as the guard at the town gate.^[8]
• 1872 – the starting line of a race in Negruzzi's collected writings.^[4][6]
• 1903 – the town tolls are abolished, and the sense “toll office” fades.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A movable bar that temporarily closes a road or a railway crossing; by extension, a level crossing.^[9][1]
2. (figurative) An obstacle or hindrance;^[9][4] barieră socială is a situation that blocks access to a higher social group.^[9][4]
3. The starting line of a horse race.^[11][12]
4. (historical) A point of entry into a town where tolls were once collected on goods brought for sale; by extension, the outskirts of a town.^[9][4]
5. (school slang) The mark five.^[10]

Related words

• bară
• bara
• baraj

Usage notes

The -ie- is pronounced as two syllables, -ri-e-.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. bariéră
3. ^ 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. barieră
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, 166
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. bariéră
6. ^ a b c d 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. barieră
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 152
8. ^ a b Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 45
9. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 90
10. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. barieră
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. barieră
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 198