beton

Forms

beton n (plural betoane)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French béton (“concrete”), as all the dictionaries agree.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The French word continues Old French betun (“mortar, cement”), from Latin bitūmen (“pitch, bitumen”).^[2][6] The Old French word is recorded from about 1165, with the senses “mortar” and “mud”; the spelling ⟨béton⟩ dates from 1671.^[7] The Latin word was probably taken from Sabellic or Celtic, from a word for pitch or resin;^[8] Pliny says that pitch was extracted from birch trees in Gaul.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1873, in a text by Ghica and Sturdza, with the sense of the building material.^[2] The DA, in 1913, defines it as a mixture of hydraulic lime or cement, water, sand and gravel that sets like stone, used above all for building in water and for foundations.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Early dictionaries describe a hydraulic mortar used under water; with beton armat “reinforced concrete” and beton vibrat the word became the name of the common building material.^[6][9][4] In sport it names a crowded defence, as French béton does.^[4][7] As an invariable adjective it is colloquial and slang for “solid, unbeatable”, and then “excellent”;^[10][11][2] Dimitrescu quotes it from the press of 2000 on.^[10][11][2]

Romanian formed betonist “concrete worker” (1930), and took betona “to pour concrete” (1900) and betonieră “concrete mixer” (1937) from French.^[2]

Timeline

• 1873 – first record, in a text by Ghica and Sturdza.^[2]
• 1900 – the participle betonat in the Enciclopedia română.^[2]
• 1930 – betonist “concrete worker”.^[2]
• 1937 – betonieră “concrete mixer”.^[2]
• 1957 – autobetonieră “truck mixer”.^[2]
• 2000 – the adjective beton “rock-solid” in the press.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. concrete: a mixture of gravel, sand, cement (or asphalt, hydraulic lime) and water that hardens into a very strong mass, used in building: beton armat “reinforced concrete”.^[4][3][1]
2. A kind of concrete; in this sense the plural is betoane.^[4]
3. (sports) A massed defence, with extra players in the defensive line, especially in football.^[4][3]

Adjective

1. (colloquial, slang; invariable) Rock-solid, watertight: un alibi beton.^[3][10]
2. (slang) excellent, great.^[10][2][1]

Word family

• autobetonieră
• betona
• betonier
• betonieră
• betonist
• electrobeton

Related words

• bitum

Usage notes

The plural is betoane, also betonuri.^[4][12] The adjective does not change for gender or number.^[10][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. beton
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 200
4. ^ 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. 101
5. ^ 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. beton
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 166
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. beton
10. ^ a b c d e Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. beton
11. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. betón
12. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. beton