bilet

Forms

bilet n (plural bilete)^[1] The old plural bileturi occurs in Văcărescul's history: „m-am dus pe la toți ambasadorii, de i-am heretisit cu bileturi” “I went round all the ambassadors and greeted them with notes”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French billet, the source all the dictionaries name.^{[4][5][6][7][1]} DELR also gives German Billett, and DEX compares Italian biglietto, which the DLRM gives as the source.^[4][5][8] Ciorănescu thinks the word came at first through Turkish, in the 18th century.^[6] Tietze, however, records the Turkish word only from the 19th century, first as an Italian form in 1851.^[9]

The French noun is the masculine of Old French billette (“letter, safe-conduct”), usually taken as an alteration of bullette (“seal; certificate”), a diminutive of bulle (“seal”), from Medieval Latin bulla.^[10][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1772, in a document on agrarian relations, and Tiktin has it from 1786.^[4][7] The first sense was a short letter or note: in Văcărescul's history the author greets the ambassadors with notes.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the note the word moved to any slip carrying written or printed information, and then to a card or slip that gives a temporary right, such as entry to a church, a theatre or a train.^[2] Costinescu in 1870 lists bilet de bancă “banknote”, the customs pass and the love letter, bilet dulce, after French billet doux.^[11] Bilet de identitate was an old name for the identity card, and bilet verde “green note” is a colloquial name for the dollar.^[3][12] The diminutive bilețel is recorded from 1864.^[4]

Timeline

• 1772 – the first record, in a document on agrarian relations.^[4]
• 1786 – a record cited by Tiktin.^[7]
• 1864 – the diminutive bilețel in Hasdeu.^[4]
• 1870 – bilet de bancă “banknote” in Costinescu.^[11]
• 1928 – portbilet “wallet for banknotes” in Cezar Petrescu.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short note or letter of a few lines: I-am lăsat un bilet pe masă.^[5][3]
2. A small printed slip of paper or card that gives the right to enter a hall or a stadium, or to travel; a ticket: bilet de tren “train ticket”.^[5][13]
3. bilet de bancă: a banknote;^[5][3] bilet la ordin or bilet de ordin: a promissory note, a bill of exchange.^[5][3]

Word family

• bilețel
• portbilet

Related words

• buletin
• French billet

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. bilet
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 206
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. bilet
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 103
6. ^ 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. bilet
7. ^ 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. bilet
8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 79
9. ^ Tietze, Andreas (2002–2018), Tarihi ve Etimolojik Türkiye Türkçesi Lugatı, Istanbul: Simurg; Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 112
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 235
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. bilet