Etymology and origin of the Romanian word bec
bec1 light bulb
Etymology tree of bec1
Forms
bec n (plural becuri)[1]
Etymology
The word for the light bulb is borrowed from French bec (“beak; gas burner”), borrowed from the phrase bec de gaz (“gas burner”).[2][3][4][5][1] The French word, properly “beak”, was also used of gas, electric and Bunsen burners.[3][6]
The French word is from Latin beccus (“beak”), recorded in Latin only from Suetonius, as the personal name ⟨Becco⟩, which he explained as meaning a cock's beak.[3][7] DELR calls it a Celtic word.[3] Wiktionary traces it to Gaulish *beccos.[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
DELR's first record is from the Bucharest newspaper Românul of November 1867.[3] The DA and CADE define it as the beak-like tip of a gas pipe where the flame burns, quoting Vlahuță on a burner of a crystal chandelier.[6][8]
Semantic evolution
The word first named the burner of a gas lamp, a sense now dated.[9][6] With electric lighting it passed to the glass bulb with an incandescent filament: Iorga wrote in 1906 of a town that amazed with its electric bulbs, and Scriban (1939) gives both senses.[6][4][10] Technical phrases followed: bec de control “test lamp”, bec de siguranță “safety cut-out” and bec de sudură “welding nozzle”.[4][9]
In slang a cădea pe bec meant “to fall into the hands of the police”, and more widely “to get into a fix”.[4] Ciorănescu, after Graur, takes the phrase from French tomber sur un bec de gaz.[2]
Timeline
- 1867 – first record, in the newspaper Românul.[3]
- 1906 – Iorga writes of a town's electric becuri.[4][6]
- 1931 – CADE defines the word as the tip of a gas pipe where the flame burns.[8]
- 1950 – the diminutive beculeț, in Mușatescu.[3]
Meanings
Noun
- A light bulb: a glass bulb, emptied of air or filled with an inert gas, with a filament that glows when an electric current passes through it; by extension, an electric lamp.[5][4]
- The mantle of a gas lamp.[5]
- A nozzle or burner through which a vaporized liquid or a jet of gas under pressure comes out to be lit.[5][4]
Word family
- beculeț
bec2 back (football)
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 1966 the second edition of the Dicționar de neologisme
- Borrowed from
- English back
- Ultimate origin
- Old English bæc
From the same root · bec2
Forms
bec m (plural beci)[5]
Etymology
The word for the football back is borrowed from English back.[3][5][11][4] The English word means “back” as a part of the body.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
DELR's first record is the second edition of the Dicționar de neologisme (1966), which defines it as a defender in football.[3]
Timeline
- 1966 – first record, in the second edition of the Dicționar de neologisme.[3]
Meanings
Noun
Usage notes
The expression a fi (or a cădea) pe bec means “to be (or end up) in a hopeless situation, to be in trouble”.[5] In Muntenia să fie bec is said of a place cleaned spotless.[13] The two words differ in gender and plural: bec “bulb” is neuter, plural becuri;[5] bec “back” is masculine, plural beci.[5]
References
- ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b 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. bec
- ^ 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. bec
- ^ 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, 193
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 98
- ^ a b c d e 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. bec
- ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. bec
- ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. bec
- ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 224
- ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 161
- ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. bec
- ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. bec
- ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 43
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Bec.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/bec. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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