bonus

Forms

bonus n (plural bonusuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English bonus, which English took from Latin bonus (“good”).^[2][3][4][1] It is thus a doublet of bun (“good”), which Romanian inherited from the same Latin word, and of bon and bonă, which came through French.^[1]

The Latin adjective goes back to Old Latin duonus and duenos, from Proto-Italic *dwenos; its further origin is uncertain.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the word to 3 December 1992, in the weekly 22: describing the pay of a young Japanese employee, the paper explains that his salary included a bonus paid twice a year.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was an extra payment to an employee on top of the usual wage, which DEX glosses with the older words gratificație and tantiemă.^[3][4] From that came a benefit given free or at a reduced price to a customer, for example by a telephone network or a shop to its regular customers.^[2][3][7] In the 1990s it was also used figuratively for an asset or advantage.^[6]

Timeline

• 1992 – first record, in the weekly 22, of a bonus paid to employees.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A payment given to an employee on top of the usual salary; a bonus, a gratificație.^[3][7]
2. An advantage given to a loyal customer by a telephone network, a shop and the like: Clienții vechi primesc un bonus de minute.^[3][7]

Related words

• bun
• bon
• bonă

Usage notes

The plural is bonusuri.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. bonus
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. 113
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. bonus
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. bonus
7. ^ a b c Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. bonus