cont

Forms

cont n (plural conturi)^[1] Older texts spell it compt, after French, with the same spelling in its family.^[2][3] A banking manual quoted in the DA has „Numim compt sau partidă socoteala ținută în parte” “we call an account or ledger entry the reckoning kept separately”.^[4] Other old variants are contă, conto and, in Transylvania, contău.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian conto (“account”), with German Konto and French compte as further models: DELR, DER and DN give all three, DEX the French and Italian words with the German one compared.^[5][6][7][8] Wiktionary prefers Italian, as Tiktin does, adding that the Italian word may have come through other languages.^[1][2] DA takes it from French and Italian through German mediation.^[4] The Transylvanian variant contău is from Hungarian kontó.^[5]

The Italian word continues Late Latin computus (“reckoning”), from computō (“to reckon”), formed of con- and putō (“to reckon, estimate; to prune”).^[5][9] The German word was taken from Italian around 1500.^[10] Graur places cumpăta in the same Latin family.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1786, in a document published by Furnică.^[2][5] A letter of 1809 printed by Iorga already has „să faceți bine să petreceți la contul meu” “be so kind as to enter it to my account”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word came with the language of trade and accounting: a reckoning of sums paid and received, then the record of a client's dealings with a bank or a merchant, as in cont curent “current account” and Curtea de conturi “Court of Audit”.^[4][2] Figurative uses grew from “reckoning”: a da cont “to account for”, a cere cont “to call to account”, a ține cont de “to take into account” and pe cont propriu “on one's own account”.^[8][2] Scriban records the Moldavian popular pe conta mea “at my own expense”.^[12] In folk poetry the plural conturi meant “complications”, as in „dragoste cu conturi multe”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1786 – the first record, in a document published by Furnică.^[2][5]
• 1809 – contul meu “my account” in a letter.^[4]
• c. 1832 – contabilitate “accounting” in I. Golescu.^[5]
• 1847 – the derivative contabil “accountant”.^[5]
• 1897 – contabiliza, decont and deconta in Panțu.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An account, the basic record in bookkeeping that shows the state and movements of a sum or a resource over a period; the record of these operations: cont bancar “bank account”.^[8][1]
2. In phrases, a reckoning: a da cont “to give an account”, a ține cont de ceva “to take something into account”, pe cont propriu “on one's own”, în contul cuiva “on someone's behalf”.^[8][3]

Word family

• contabilitate
• contabiliza
• contișor
• decont
• deconta
• discont
• conta
• contabil

Related words

• cumpăta
• Italian conto
• French compte

Usage notes

A separate Transylvanian word cont or conț “piece of bread or meat; a quire of 24 sheets of paper” is borrowed from Hungarian konc.^[13][14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. cont
3. ^ 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, 493
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. cont
5. ^ 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. cont
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. cont
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. cont
8. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 226
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. contare
10. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 527
11. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 190
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 338
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. cont²
14. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 261
15. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 132