colonie

Forms

colonie f (plural colonii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin colōnia (“settlement of citizens; colony”), and was also borrowed from French colonie.^[2][1][3][4] DELR collects the views: Latin according to Scriban, the DÎLR, DEX and Tiktin, French according to DA, CADE, Ciorănescu, DEX and Tiktin.^[2][5] It also notes that one dictionary takes the form used by the Moldavian chroniclers from Polish kolonia.^[2] Gabinschi treats it as an international word of Latin origin, which reached Romanian through French, German and Russian.^[6]

The Latin word is formed on colōnus (“farmer; settler”), from colō (“to till, cultivate”).^[7][1][2] The French word comes from Middle French colonie of the 14th century, from the same Latin noun.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the New Testament of 1648, where it occurs in the phrase oraș coloniia “a city, a colony”.^[2] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has colonia in Acts 16:12.^[8] Tiktin's first record is of 1683, in Dosoftei.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defines it as a number of people of both sexes sent from one country to settle in another, and Costinescu in 1870 adds the land they inhabit.^[9][10]

Șăineanu and CADE add a settlement founded by a nation in another part of the world, a possession of a European power on another continent, and the foreigners living in a city.^[11][12] Scriban's example of the last sense is colonia românească din Paris “the Romanian community of Paris”.^[13] Scriban also has the biological sense, colonie de microbi.^[13] The dictionaries of neologisms and DEX add a group of children sent on holiday to a resort.^[14][15][4]

Timeline

• 1648 – oraș coloniia in the New Testament, the first record.^[2]
• 1683 – in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[3]
• 1688 – colonia in the Bucharest Bible, Acts 16:12.^[8]
• 1717–1723 – the noun colon “colonist” and the verb form colonisare in Cantemir's Hronicul.^[2]
• 1777 – colonist, from German.^[2]
• 1837 – the adjective colonial.^[2]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1944 – colonialism.^[2]
• 1973 – decoloniza “to decolonize”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A city founded by the Phoenicians, the Greeks or other peoples on foreign territory, for trade or strategy; also a town founded by the Romans in conquered lands.^[4][16]
2. A colony: a territory occupied and ruled by a foreign nation and dependent on it.^[4][2][1]
3. A compact group of people of the same origin settled in a country or region, through immigration or resettlement.^[4][2]
4. A group of children sent on holiday to a resort; by extension, the place where they stay: o colonie de vară “a summer camp”.^[4][14]
5. (biology) A group of individuals of the same species living together;^[4][2] colonie microbiană, a group of bacteria grown from one or a few germs.^[4][2]

Word family

• anticolonialism
• anticolonialist
• colon
• colonat
• colonial
• colonialism
• colonist
• coloniza
• decoloniza
• neocolonialism

Related words

• odicolon
• Latin colōnia

Usage notes

It is stressed coloníe.^[4] A separate noun colónie, stressed on the second syllable, is short for apă de colonie “eau de Cologne”, a scented liquid of alcohol and plant oils used in cosmetics.^[4][13] It is French eau de Cologne, named after the French name of the city of Köln, which goes back to Latin Colonia.^[2][17] DELR first records it in 1838 as apă de coloni; the older loan odicolon is recorded from 1835.^[2] In one of Alecsandri's plays a character calls for vinegar and colonie because the ladies have fainted.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. colonie
3. ^ 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. colonie
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 207
5. ^ 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. colonie
6. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. colōnia
8. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Acts 16:12
9. ^ 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, p. s.v. colonie
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 214
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 149
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. colonie
13. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 318
14. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
15. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 464
17. ^ 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. colonie