conducere

Forms

conducere f (plural conduceri)^[1]

Etymology

It is the long infinitive of conduce (“to lead”), formed from Romanian conduce + -re, and serves as its verbal noun.^[2][3][4][1] The verb, recorded from 1787, is a learned loan from Latin condūcō (“to bring together; later, to lead”), from con- and dūcō (“to lead”), and took over the senses of French conduire.^[2][5] Wiktionary adds that the verb was fitted to the conjugation of duce.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the noun to 1822, Bobb's dictionary, with the senses “the action of leading” and “the person or body that leads”.^[2][3] MDA2's first record is much later, a 1950 issue of Viața românească.^[6]

Semantic evolution

As a long infinitive the word names the action of the verb in all its senses; in 1929 Șăineanu still gave “conduit” beside “direction”, as in conducerea apei “the water main”.^[7] Laurian and Massim, in their Latinist dictionary, entered the verb itself under conducere, the Latin form of the infinitive.^[8]

In the 20th century the concrete sense “the management, the leadership” became the main one: the people or the body at the head of an institution.^[6][4] The 1950s added political terms such as conducere colectivă and conducere unică.^[9][10] The compound autoconducere “self-government” was made on the model of English self-government and is recorded from 1878.^[2]

Timeline

• 1787 – the verb conduce.^[2]
• 1822 – conducere in Bobb's dictionary, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1830 – conducător “leader; conductor”.^[2]
• 1878 – autoconducere “self-government” in Slavici.^[2]
• 1950 – the first record in MDA2, from Viața românească.^[6]
• 1958 – conducere colectivă and conducere unică as political terms.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action of leading, directing or driving; the work of a leader or manager.^[4][6]
2. (concrete) The leadership or management: the person or group at the head of an organization;^[4][11] conducerea institutului “the institute's management”.^[4][11]

Word family

• autoconducere

Related words

• conducător
• conductă
• Latin condūcō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. conduce
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. conducere
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 219
5. ^ 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. conduce
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 483
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 157
8. ^ Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. conducere
9. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. conducere
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 518
11. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. conducere