comerț

Forms

comerț n (uncountable)^[1] Older forms are comerțium (1766), comerțiom, comerciu and comers.^[2][3][4] A title of 1776 has comerciu: „Titlu... de comerciu”.^[5][3]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin commercium, given its final /t͡s/ on the model of older words such as negoț, perhaps also after German Kommerz.^[2] Ciorănescu also takes it from Latin, partly through Italian commerzio or with a German pronunciation, in the 18th century.^[6] DEX and Wiktionary give French commerce and Latin, and MDA2, Tiktin and the DA add Italian commercio.^{[7][1][3][4][5]} DELR sorts the variants: comers is from French, comerțium and comerțiom from Latin, and comerciu from Italian.^[2]

The Latin noun is formed of con- (“with, together”) and merx (“goods, merchandise”).^[2][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the variant comerțium in 1766, with the sense “exchange of goods by buying and selling”.^[2] Tiktin cites comerțiom from about 1775, and MDA2 and the DA a title of 1776 with comerciu.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed “trade”, with fixed terms such as cameră de comerț “chamber of commerce”, academie de comerț “commercial academy” and comerț exterior “foreign trade”.^[5][3] A family formed around it in the 19th century: comerciant from 1804–1808 (Șincai), comercial from 1810, and the verb comercia from 1846; comercializa followed in 1931.^[2] Recent terms include comerț electronic “e-commerce”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1766 – comerțium, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1775 – comerțiom.^[4]
• 1776 – comerciu in a title.^[3][5]
• 1804–1808 – comerțiant “merchant” in Șincai.^[2]
• 1810 – comerțial “commercial”.^[2]
• 1846 – comerția “to trade” in Negulici.^[2]
• 1931 – comercializa in CADE.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. trade, commerce: the exchange of goods by buying and selling; the branch of the economy in which goods circulate: comerț cu amănuntul “retail trade”.^[7][3][9]

Word family

• anticomercial
• comercia
• comercial
• comercialism
• comercializa
• comerciant
• necomercial

Related words

• negoț
• marfă

Usage notes

Cameră de comerț is a body that represents and promotes trade.^[3][9] The plural comerțuri is rare.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. comerț
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 469
4. ^ 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. comerț
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. comerț
6. ^ 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. comerț
7. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 210
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual