bibliotecă

Forms

bibliotecă f (plural biblioteci)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin bibliothēca and French bibliothèque: DELR, MDA2, DEX and Wiktionary name both,^[2][3][4][1] DN adds Italian biblioteca,^[5] and the DA gives the Latin word alone.^[6] DELR takes the older forms vivliotică and vivliothichi from Modern Greek βιβλιοθήκη (vivliothíki).^[2]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek βιβλιοθήκη (bibliothḗkē, “book chest, book store”), from βιβλίον (biblíon, “book, papyrus sheet”) and θήκη (thḗkē, “chest, box”), which is formed on the root of τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the variant vivliothichi in N. Costin's chronicle (1700–1712); the form bibliotecă appears in Cantemir's Hronic (1717–1723), which Tiktin dates to 1722.^[2][7] MDA2 and the DA cite a document of 1828 in the Uricariul on forming a national library.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The DA ordered the senses from the bookcase, through the room or building where books are kept and the collection itself, to a series of publications such as Biblioteca pentru toți; a very learned person is o bibliotecă ambulantă “a walking library”.^[6] Golescu used the form bibliotică, taken directly from Greek.^[6] DEX adds the institution that lends books to readers and, in computing, a library of programs.^[4][2] The word for the librarian came first through Greek, as vivlioticar about 1770, then as bibliotecar after French, Latin and German.^[2] In thieves' slang bibliotecă is a new pack of cards, and also a tavern or a drink.^[8]

Timeline

• 1700–1712 – the variant vivliothichi in N. Costin's chronicle, the first record.^[2]
• 1717–1723 – bibliotecă in Cantemir's Hronic.^[2][7]
• c. 1770 – vivlioticar “librarian”.^[2]
• 1803 – biblioticariul “the librarian” in a Moldavian document.^[6]
• 1828 – a “national library” in a document in the Uricariul.^[3][6]
• 1844 – the diminutive bibliotecuță.^[2]
• 1932 – biblioteconomie “library science”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bookcase: a piece of furniture with shelves for books.^[4]
2. A room or hall where books are kept and read.^[4]
3. A collection of books and periodicals; an institution that collects them for readers; a library.^[4][3]
4. A series of books of uniform design and theme from one publisher: Biblioteca pentru toți.^[4][6]
5. (computing) A software library: a collection of programs or program components.^[4][2]

Word family

• bibliotecar
• biblioteconomic
• biblioteconomie
• bibliotecuță

Related words

• teacă

Usage notes

The syllables -bli-o- are pronounced separately;^[3] MDA2 and the DA also record the stress bibliótecă.^[3][6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. bibliotecă
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 202
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 102
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. bibliotecă
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. bibliotecă
7. ^ 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. bibliotecă
8. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. bibliotecă