centru

Forms

centru n (plural centre)^[1] The neuter plural centre is used for most senses; a masculine plural centri goes with the sense of a sports player and with centri nervoși “nerve centres”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French centre and the learned Latin centrum.^[4][2][5][1] Tiktin gives only the Latin.^[3] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “goad, sting, sharp point”), which since Euclid has also meant the centre of a circle.^[4][6][7]

The early Romanian forms show other routes as well: chentru is from learned Greek and chendru from Modern Greek κέντρον (kéntron), țentrom from Hungarian centrom, and țentru follows the German pronunciation.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1698, in the Greek-based form chentru, in Dimitrie Cantemir's Divan.^[4][3] MDA2 dates it to Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică of 1704.^[5] Its first sense was geometric, the point at an equal distance from all points of a circle or sphere.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

From the geometric point the word spread to the middle of any space, the centre of a town, and to the place where an activity is concentrated: Rome as the centre of the arts.^[9][4] In politics it came to name the middle part of an assembly, between right and left, and then the moderate position itself.^[10][2] Anatomy and physiology gave centru nervos “nerve centre”, and sport a player in the middle of the line and the centre spot of the pitch.^[2] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848 still glossed it with the native mijloc “middle”.^[8]

Most of its family was borrowed from French alongside it: central (1810), concentra (1800), centra (1870), centraliza (c. 1832); Romanian formed centrui (1818) and anticentru (1975) itself.^[4]

Timeline

• 1698 – chentru in Cantemir's Divan, the first record.^[4][3]
• 1704 – in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[5]
• 1800 – the derivative concentra.^[4]
• 1810 – central, also țăntral.^[4]
• 1848 – listed among the recent loanwords in Negulici's vocabulary.^[8]
• 1870 – the verb centra.^[4]
• 1906 – epicentru.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics) The point with respect to which the points of a figure are symmetrical in pairs; the point at an equal distance from all points of a circle or sphere.^[2][5]
2. centru de greutate “centre of gravity”: the point where the resultant of a system of forces acts;^[2] centru de rotație, the point about which a body turns.^[2]
3. The middle of an area or space; the centre of a town; in football and handball, the centre spot.^[2][11]
4. (plural centri) A player in the middle of the attack or the defence.^[2]
5. A point where certain functions are located: centru nervos “nerve centre”.^[2]
6. A place where an activity is concentrated: centru universitar, centru comercial; a governing institution, the central authority.^[2]
7. (politics) The middle position between right and left: partid de centru, centru-dreapta.^[2][10]

Word family

• centrui
• anticentru

Related words

• central
• centra
• concentra
• centraliza
• epicentru
• excentric
• Latin centrum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 170
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. centru
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. centru
5. ^ 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, 358
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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. s.v. centru
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 118
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 258
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. centru