conferință

Forms

conferință f (plural conferințe)^[1] The earliest form is conferenție, in Radu Tempea's history of the church of Șchei (1742); conferență was the usual form into the 20th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French conférence, with New Latin cōnferentia, the learned Latin form, as a second source.^[2][3][5][1] Tiktin gives the same two sources.^[6] The French word comes from Medieval Latin cōnferentia (“meeting, comparison”), formed on the present participle of Latin cōnferō (“to bring together, compare”), itself from con- and ferō (“to carry”).^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1742, as conferenție, in Radu Tempea's history of the church of Șchei in Brașov.^[2] Tiktin's first record is from Șincai's chronicle, about 1812, and Stamati defined conferenție as the deliberation of two or more people on a matter.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a meeting at which people, especially diplomats, discuss and decide: Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains it as a gathering held for debate.^[8][9] By extension it was a private conversation: Ghica writes that he found someone în conferință with the English ambassador.^[8] The sense “public lecture” appears in Russo's writings, and conferențiar “lecturer” followed in 1881, after French conférencier.^[8][2] In the universities conferență also named a post below a full professorship, the source of the title conferențiar universitar.^[8][5] It also named a superior forum of a (Communist) party organization.^[3][10]

Timeline

• 1742 – conferenție in Radu Tempea's history of the church of Șchei.^[2]
• c. 1812 – in Șincai's chronicle.^[6]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1857 – in Aristia's translation of Plutarch, MDA2's first record.^[5][8]
• 1881 – conferențiar “lecturer” in Odobescu.^[2]
• 1919 – the verb conferenția “to lecture” in Galaction.^[2]
• 1964 – teleconferință.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lecture or public talk on a subject of science, art, politics and so on.^[3][5]
2. A conference: a meeting of the representatives of states or organizations to discuss questions and take decisions.^[3][5]
3. (historical) A superior forum of a party organization that meets to debate its work and elect its leadership.^[3]
4. A consultation, a talk.^[3][5]
5. conferință de presă: a press conference.^[3][5]
6. (obsolete) A university post below that of professor.^[5][8]

Word family

• conferențiar
• conferenția
• teleconferință

Related words

• conferi

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. conferi
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 220
4. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. conferință
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 484
6. ^ 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. conferință
7. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 41
8. ^ 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. conferință
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, p. s.v. conferință
10. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. conferință