camion

Forms

camion n (plural camioane)^[1] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written камион.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French camion, first “a low cart or wagon for carrying goods”.^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The French word, recorded from 1352, also as chamion, is of uncertain origin.^[6] A link with Occitan caminar (“to travel”) is morphologically weak, and so is one with Late Latin chamulcus (“low cart”), from Ancient Greek χαμουλκός (khamoulkós).^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Barcianu's dictionary of 1868, where the word is glossed as German Lastwagen;^[7][2] DELR dates it to 1873.^[7][2] A camion was then drawn by horses: a story in Convorbiri literare describes the big pump coming on „un camion greoi, ferecat, târât de doi cai” “a heavy, iron-bound camion pulled by two horses”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Scriban describes it in 1939 as a very low sprung carriage with four small wheels, used mostly for moving furniture.^[9] With motor transport the word came to mean a lorry, and autocamion is recorded from 1949; the horse-drawn sense is now dated.^[2][4][10] Its derivatives camionaj “haulage” and camionetă “van” came from French as well, while camionagiu “lorry driver” was formed in Romanian.^[2][3] The press compound camion-capcană “truck bomb” is recorded in 2007.^[11]

Timeline

• 1868 – in Barcianu's dictionary, the first record.^[7]
• 1873 – the first record DELR gives.^[2]
• 1898 – camionaj.^[2]
• 1913 – camionagiu and camionar “lorry driver”.^[2]
• 1931 – camionetă.^[2]
• 1949 – autocamion and autocamionetă.^[2]
• 2007 – camion-capcană “truck bomb” in the press.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lorry, a truck; an autocamion: Camionul a descărcat nisipul.^[4][1]
2. (dated) A horse-drawn wagon with a platform, for carrying goods.^[4][12]

Word family

• autocamion
• autocamionetă
• camionagiu
• camionaj
• camionar
• camionetă

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. camion
3. ^ 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. camion
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 137
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. camion
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. camion
8. ^ 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. camion
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 222
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. camion
11. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. camión
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 283