concurs

Forms

concurs n (plural concursuri)^[1] The old Transylvanian variant concurșum occurs in a Sibiu document of 1768: „să se facă concurșum” “let the creditors' proceedings be opened”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

DELR takes it as borrowed from German Konkurs, and has it borrowed again later as borrowed from French concours.^[4] The variant concurșum reflects the Hungarian way of pronouncing Latin ⟨s⟩.^[4] Tiktin gives New Latin concursus, also through German and French.^[3] DEX, MDN and MDA2 name French and Latin together.^[5][6][7] The DA separates the senses: competition and help after French, and the legal sense of creditors' proceedings from German, where it comes from Medieval Latin concursus creditorum (“the running together of creditors”).^[2]

Latin concursus (“a running together, a gathering”) is formed on the participle stem of concurrō (“to run together”).^[8][1][4] The verb concura has the same source.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is concurșum in a Sibiu document of 1768, in the legal sense of creditors' proceedings against a debtor.^[2][3] DELR's earliest record is of 1787, in a legal text, with the senses of competition and of joint action.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Transylvania the German legal sense lasted: a concurs was the division of a bankrupt's goods among his creditors, and later the bankruptcy itself.^[2][3] Through French the word took the senses of help and of contest: Negulici gives “competing, rivalry” in 1848.^[9][2] The sense “examination for a post or a place” belongs to the 19th century; in Transylvania concurs could also mean the vacancy itself.^[2][10] The phrase concurs de împrejurări “a coincidence of circumstances” is in Șăineanu.^[11][5]

Timeline

• 1768 – concurșum “creditors' proceedings” in a Sibiu document.^[2][3]
• 1787 – concurs in a legal text.^[4]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms, “rivalry, competing”.^[9]
• 1870 – contest for a chair, a living or a prize, in Costinescu's dictionary.^[12]
• 1970 – teleconcurs “televised contest”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A competition, contest (often in sport), ending in a ranking and prizes for the best.^[5][7][1]
2. A competitive examination for a post, a chair, a scholarship or a place at a school.^[5][6]
3. help, support, collaboration: a-și da concursul “to lend one's help”;^[5][13] concurs de împrejurări “a coincidence of circumstances”.^[5][13]
4. (dated, Transylvania) Proceedings in which creditors share out a debtor's goods; bankruptcy.^[2][3]

Related words

• concura
• concurent
• concurență
• curs

Usage notes

The plural is concursuri.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. concurs
3. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. concúrs
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. concura
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
7. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 481
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 227
13. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România