concert

Forms

concert n (plural concerte)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French concert, together with Italian concerto: DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries name both.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Ciorănescu names only the Italian word, in the 19th century.^[6] Tiktin names Italian and German Konzert, and DELR all three: French, German and Italian.^[7][8] The old variants conțert and consért show the German or Russian pronunciation.^[8][9]

The French word was borrowed from Italian in 1608.^[10] The Italian word first meant “agreement, harmony” and is a deverbal noun of concertare (“to arrange together”).^[8][11] Italian took that verb from Latin concertō (“to contend, vie”), formed on certō (“to fight, vie”), itself an intensive of cernō (“to sift; to decide”).^[8][11] Graur placed the word in one family with cerne, cert and certa.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1805, and DELR to 1806, in a work of Alecu Beldiman.^[7][8] In 1848 Negulici defined концерт in transitional Cyrillic as “a harmony of voices or instruments”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The DA lists two senses: “agreement, union of persons or states for a common aim” and, more common, a public performance of music.^[9] By extension the word named the pieces performed and, more rarely, the hall.^[9] Concertul european “the concert of Europe” was the agreement of the European powers.^[7][14] Poets used it for birdsong: Conachi wrote of the nightingale's „concert plin de dulceață”.^[9][15] Today the political sense is rare.^[2] The plural was concerte or concerturi in the 19th century.^[9][16]

The press of the 1970s formed compounds such as concert-dezbatere “concert with a debate” (1972), concert-colocviu (1973) and concert-concurs (1976).^[17]

Timeline

• 1805 – the first record.^[7]
• 1806 – in Alecu Beldiman.^[8]
• 1847 – the verb concerta “to agree; to give a concert”.^[8]
• 1848 – концерт in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[13]
• 1864 – concertat “agreed upon” in Hasdeu.^[8]
• 1871 – concertist and concertant in Laurian & Massim.^[8]
• 1961 – concertină, the hexagonal accordion.^[8]
• 1972 – concert-dezbatere.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A public performance of music: Am fost aseară la un concert simfonic.^[2][3]
2. A large composition for one or more solo instruments with orchestra: concert pentru vioară și orchestră;^[2] concert pentru orchestră, an orchestral work of virtuosity.^[2]
3. (rare) agreement, union of persons or states for a common aim.^[2][9]
4. (figurative) The singing of birds.^[3][9]

Word family

• concerta
• concertat
• concertină
• concertino
• concertist
• concertistic
• concertmaistru

Related words

• concerto
• deconcerta

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 216
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 479
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. concert
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. concert
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. concert
7. ^ 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. concert
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. concert
9. ^ a b c d e f g 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. concert
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
13. ^ 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. concert
14. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. concert
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 513
16. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 1
17. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. concert