blocaj

Forms

blocaj n (plural blocaje)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French blocage,^{[2][3][4][5][1]} the French noun of action formed on bloquer (“to block”) with the suffix -age.^[2][1] In Romanian it sits beside bloca, as if formed with the suffix -aj.^[1] The French verb comes from bloc, which DELR traces to Middle Dutch bloc (“log, beam”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is in the Bucharest newspaper București of 7 July 1892.^[2] MDA2 first finds it in the Lexiconul tehnic român (1949–1955), a technical lexicon.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries of the 1950s know only the engineering sense, a mass of stone or concrete blocks used as a foundation or as a defence against waves and ice floes.^[6][7] The sports senses (a block at the net in volleyball, a guard in boxing) and the medical sense of a sudden halt of a bodily function appear in the later dictionaries,^[8][3] and DEXI adds the economic blocaj financiar, a failure to make payments for lack of liquid funds.^[9]

Timeline

• 1892 – in the newspaper București, the first record.^[2]
• 1949 – in the Lexiconul tehnic român.^[4]
• 1958 – DLRM defines only the stone foundation.^[6]
• 1986 – the volleyball and medical senses in Marcu and Maneca's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare) A blockage, a blocking; a blockade.^[3][4]
2. (sports) A tactic of stopping an opponent's action, or a tight defence; in volleyball, a block at the net.^[3][4][8]
3. (engineering) A foundation of stones or river boulders under some roads and railways; also a rough dyke of piled stones, boulders or bricks.^[3][4]
4. (medicine) The sudden stopping of a process or of an organ's function: blocaj renal “renal failure”.^[3]
5. (economics) blocaj financiar: a firm's failure to meet its payments for lack of liquid funds.^[9]

Related words

• bloca
• bloc
• blocadă

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. bloc
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 109
4. ^ 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, 218
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. blocaj
6. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 84
7. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 251
8. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. blocaj
9. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. blocaj