carbon

Forms

carbon n (uncountable)^[1] An older variant carboniu follows New Latin.^[2] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 spells it in the transitional alphabet as кarbon and defines it as pure charcoal that cannot be broken down.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French carbone, the name of the chemical element;^[2][4][5][1] MDA2 and NODEX give Latin carbō (“charcoal”) as a second source, and Tiktin names New Latin carbo and Italian carbone.^[6][7][8] The old variant carboniu is borrowed from New Latin carbonium.^[2]

The French word is a learned formation on the Latin stem carbōnem “charcoal”,^[2] coined by Lavoisier;^[1] Gabinschi counts it a Latin–Romance loan, transmitted through French and Italian.^[9] The Latin word is of uncertain origin: de Vaan rejects the old link with a root meaning “to burn”.^[10] Romanian inherited the same Latin word as cărbune, so the two are doublets.^[1][9][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to about 1805, in Șincai.^[2][8] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains it as a chemical term.^[3] MDA2's first record is later: Ion Ionescu's book on agriculture in Mehedinți (1868), which counts carbon among the substances of plants beside oxygen and hydrogen.^[6][12]

Semantic evolution

Scriban distinguished the chemical carbon from the everyday cărbune, as French distinguishes carbone from charbon.^[13] Its 20th-century uses include carbon 14, the radioactive isotope used for dating, and hârtie-carbon “carbon paper” for copies.^[4][14] Many derivatives came from French with it: bicarbonat (1852), carbometru (1958), carbogen (1969).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1805 – first record, in Șincai.^[2][8]
• 1848 – кarbon in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[3]
• 1852 – the derivative bicarbonat.^[2]
• 1868 – in Ion Ionescu's book on agriculture in Mehedinți.^[6][12]
• 1870 – carbonŭ in Costinescu's dictionary.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. carbon, the chemical element found in coal, petroleum and natural gas, in a pure state as diamond and graphite, and in every organic substance.^[4][6]
2. carbon 14: the radioactive isotope used to establish the age of ancient remains.^[4]
3. hârtie-carbon, or carbon alone: carbon paper, coated on one side for making copies.^[4][14]

Word family

• bicarbonat
• carbogen
• carboid
• carbometru
• carbonado
• carbonat
• carbonata
• carbonic
• carbonier
• carbonifer
• carbonificare
• carbonil
• carbonilic
• carboniza
• decarbonatare

Related words

• cărbune
• Latin carbō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. carbon
3. ^ a b c 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, p. 72
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 145
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. carbon
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 296
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. carbon
8. ^ 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. carbón
9. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 75
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b 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. carbon
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 231
14. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. carbon
15. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 160