companie

Forms

companie f (plural companii)^[1] Old forms are cumpanie and cumbanie, with the old plural cumpănii.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a loan with several sources.^[2] The modern form, stressed on the ending, is borrowed from French compagnie and Italian compagnia, perhaps with German Kompagnie.^[2][4][1] The older form, stressed on the second syllable and first recorded in the military sense, DELR derives from Hungarian kompánia and Polish kompanja, and later also Russian компания (kompanija).^[2] Ciorănescu puts Italian first, in the 18th century, then French.^[5] The variant cumbanie DELR explains by contamination with a Greek form.^[2]

French compagnie is formed on Old French compain (“companion”), from Late Latin compāniō (“companion”), literally “one who shares bread”, from con- and pānis (“bread”), a calque of a Gothic compound of the same meaning.^[2][6][7] Kluge prefers to link compāniō with compāgēs (“joint, connection”).^[8] Aromanian cumbanie is from Italian and French.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is a document of 1656 published by Iorga, probably with the stress compánie and in the military sense.^[2] The commercial sense follows in 1694, and companionship in 1779.^[2] Tiktin's first date is around 1706.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word named the trading companies of Greek merchants in Transylvania and Oltenia, whose members were called companiști and cumpănași.^[5][11][2] From the late 18th century, under French influence, it also meant company, being with someone, and a group of people spending time together.^[2][12] Commercial companies, colonial companies and later large firms were named with it in the 19th century.^[3][13]

The two stresses were long used in every sense; they then split, companíe for companionship and firms and compánie for the military unit.^[2][5] Recent press language has companie-mamă “parent company”, after French compagnie-mère, and animal de companie “pet”.^[14]

Timeline

• 1656 – the first record, probably in the military sense.^[2]
• 1694 – the commercial sense, a trading company.^[2]
• c. 1706 – Tiktin's first dated record.^[10]
• 1779 – cumpaníe “companionship”, the first record of the stress on -í-.^[2]
• 1787 – the derivative companion “companion, partner”.^[2]
• 1788 – companist “member of a trading company”.^[2]
• 1825 – both senses, “society” and “part of a regiment”, in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (stressed companíe) company, companionship: damă de companie “lady's companion”.^[4][3]
2. (stressed companíe) A small group of people spending time together.^[4]
3. (stressed companíe) A business company, a firm; formerly also a colonial trading company.^[4][3]
4. (stressed compánie, military) A company, a unit larger than a platoon and smaller than a batalion: companie de onoare “guard of honour”.^[4][3]

Word family

• companion
• companioană
• companist
• cumpănaș

Related words

• Aromanian cumbanie
• French compagnie

Usage notes

DEX and DOOM2 split the word into companie¹, stressed companíe “company, companionship; firm”, and companie², stressed compánie “military company”;^[4] DELR shows that they are one loan whose two stresses were once used in every sense.^[4][2]

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 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. companie
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 472
4. ^ 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. 211
5. ^ a b c 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. companie
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
8. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 327
10. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. companíe
11. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. companie
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 220
13. ^ 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. compánie
14. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. companíe
15. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 135