calibru

Forms

calibru n (plural calibre)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French calibre, a neologism of the 19th century.^[2][3][4][1] The DA and the neologism dictionaries also name Italian calibro beside the French word, and Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 gave only the Italian form.^[5][6][7] Scriban likewise took the French word from the Italian one.^[8]

The French word goes back to Arabic قَالِب (qālib), also vocalised ⟨qālab⟩, “a mould into which metal is poured; a shoemaker's last”.^[2][9] The Arabic word is in turn from Ancient Greek καλοπόδιον (kalopódion), beside καλόπους (kalópous) and καλάπους (kalápous) “a shoemaker's last”, a compound of κᾶλον (kâlon, “wood”) and πούς (poús, “foot”).^[2][9][1] The DHLF doubts an Italian intermediary for French, since the Italian word is not recorded before the 17th century, while the French word dates from 1478.^[9] Wiktionary calls the Romanian word a doublet of calapod “shoemaker's last”, which goes back to the same Greek word.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the word to 1831, with the sense “the inner diameter of the barrel of a firearm”.^[2] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains it as the size of the mouth of a cannon, a gun or a pistol, and the size of the bomb or ball that fits that mouth.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was technical, the bore of a gun barrel; the DA adds the outer diameter of a projectile.^[5][3] By metonymy the word came to name the gauge used to check that bore or the dimensions of manufactured pieces.^[5][4] The figurative sense “size, quality, sort”, said of people and things, is in Șăineanu's dictionary of 1929 and the CADE of 1931, and a quotation from Gherea, MDA2's first record, already uses it ironically of a kind of love poetry.^[11][12][13] In French the figurative sense “importance” is older than the sense of the gun barrel.^[9]

From the 1940s on Romanian formed a technical family on the word, mostly after French models: calibra “to gauge” from 1949, calibraj from 1957, recalibra from 1966 and decalibra from 1972.^[2]

Timeline

• 1478 – French calibre, the source word, is first recorded.^[9]
• 1831 – calibru “bore of a firearm”, the first Romanian record.^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1862 – Pontbriant gives it with the Italian calibro as its source.^[7]
• 1949 – the verb calibra and the adjective calibror.^[2]
• 1957 – calibraj “calibration”.^[2]
• 1966 – recalibra; 1972 – decalibra.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The inner diameter of a tube, especially of the barrel of a firearm: o armă de calibru mic “a small-calibre weapon”.^[4][3]
2. The outer diameter of a projectile.^[3][5]
3. A precision gauge for checking the dimensions of manufactured parts.^[4][3]
4. (figurative) Size, proportion, quality;^[4][14] (colloquial) kind, sort: de același calibru “of the same sort”.^[4][14]

Word family

• calibra
• calibraj
• calibror
• decalibra
• recalibra

Related words

• calapod
• calup

Usage notes

The plural is calibre; an older plural calibruri is recorded in the DA and MDA2.^[3][5] The phrase de același calibru “of the same kind” is usually said of people, often ironically.^[14][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. calibru
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, 279
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 134
5. ^ a b c d e 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. calibru
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 100
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 219
9. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 94
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. calibru
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 317
14. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. calibru