circula

Forms

circula (present circul, third-person singular circulă, past participle circulat), 1st conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French circuler together with Latin circulor (“to form groups around oneself”), taken into Romanian as a neologism.^[3][2][4] The DA and Tiktin name Latin circulāre instead.^[5][6] DELR thinks this probably an oversight that neglects the difference between the two Latin verbs: the active verb meant “to make round”, the deponent “to gather people round oneself”.^[3][7] MDA2 compares the Latin verb, and Wiktionary gives French or a learned borrowing from Latin.^[8][1] Both Latin verbs are formed on circulus (“small circle”).^[3][7]

French borrowed the verb around 1361 from Latin.^[9] The Latin meant “to form a group”, “to act as a peddler or a charlatan”, and hence “to go from place to place”.^[9] DELR explains the old variant cercura as adapted to the sound pattern of the native vocabulary, perhaps also influenced by cerc.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1825, DELR under the form țircula.^[3][6] MDA2's first record is in Iancu Văcărescu's collected poems of 1848.^[8] The noun circulație is recorded earlier, in 1816.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains the verb as going round in a curve.^[10] Figuratively it is used of coins passing from hand to hand and of news passing from mouth to mouth.^[10] Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 adds “to go here and there”, with the example of news that has been going round the town for a long time.^[11]

The DA groups the senses around movement that returns to its starting point, above all the circulation of the blood, as in Costache Negruzzi.^[5] People and vehicles that come and go, air that moves, money that changes hands and news, rumours or literary works that spread follow.^[5] The imperative Circulați! “move along!”, the order of police officers to a crowd, is recorded by Tiktin, the DA and the CADE.^[6][5][12] MDA2 adds an economic and legal sense: goods, rights or money passing from one owner to another.^[8]

Timeline

• 1816 – the noun circulație, before the verb.^[3]
• 1825 – țircula, the first record of the verb.^[3][6]
• 1829 – the adjective circulator “circulatory”.^[3]
• 1848 – in Iancu Văcărescu's poems, and in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8][10]
• 1896 – circulant “in circulation”.^[3]
• 1957 – recircula “to put back into the production cycle”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be in motion, to move about, to travel: Pe stradă circulă mulți oameni.^[2][8]
2. Of vehicles: to run regularly on a set route and timetable: Autobuzul nu circulă duminica.^[2][8]
3. Of liquids and gases: to circulate, to move continuously in a circuit and return to the starting point, as the blood does.^[2][5]
4. Of ideas, news and rumours: to pass from one person to another, to spread.^[2][8]
5. Of money: to be in current use, to be valid: Bancnotele vechi nu mai circulă.^[2][13]

Word family

• circulant
• circulat
• circulator
• circulație
• recircula
• recirculație

Related words

• cerc

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 188
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. circula
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. circula
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. circula
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. circula
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 412
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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. circula
11. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 132
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. circula
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. circula