contact

Forms

contact n (plural contacte)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French contact, with borrowed from Latin contactus (“touch”) as a second source, as DELR, DEX, DN, MDN, MDA2 and Tiktin give it.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Wiktionary gives only the French noun, Scriban only the Latin.^[1][8] The Latin noun comes from the participle stem of contingō (“to touch”), formed from con- and tangō (“to touch”).^[2][9] French borrowed it from Latin, recorded from 1611; its electrical senses came from English.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the noun to 1837, in Sibineanu, with the senses “touch” and “relation”.^[2] A form contact in Iorgovici's list of proposed new words of 1799 is the Latin participle, an adjective meaning “touched, spoiled”, not the noun;^[2][7] Tiktin dates the word from that list.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 still explains it as the touching of two bodies.^[11] The figurative sense “relation, link between people” is quoted from Maiorescu's speeches, the first record in MDA2.^[12][6] The DA also records the army's a lua contact “to come up against the enemy”, the electrical contact and the geometer's punct de contact “point of tangency”.^[12] The verb contacta “to get in touch” is recorded from 1969 and the contactor of electrical engineering from 1953.^[2] Recent senses are a contact person and sexual contact.^[3]

Timeline

• 1799 – contact as an adjective “touched” in Iorgovici's list of new words.^[2]
• 1837 – the noun contact in Sibineanu.^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[11]
• 1866 – “relation” in Maiorescu's parliamentary speeches.^[6][12]
• 1953 – contactor.^[2]
• 1969 – contacta.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Direct contact or touch between two bodies, forces or energies;^[3][6] în contact cu “close to, closely linked with”.^[3][6]
2. (concrete) A part that makes a connection;^[3] contact electric “electrical contact”, made by two conducting parts touching.^[3]
3. Closeness between people; a relationship, legătură, communication;^[3][6] a lua contact “to get in touch”, and in the army “to come up against the enemy and begin fighting”.^[3][6]
4. A contact person.^[3]
5. (also contact sexual) Sexual intercourse.^[3]

Word family

• contacta
• contactor

Related words

• tact
• atinge
• contamina

Usage notes

The plural is contacte; older dictionaries also give contacturi.^[3][12][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. contact
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 226
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. contact
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. contact
6. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 493
7. ^ 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. contact
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 338
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. contactus
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. contact
11. ^ 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. 98
12. ^ a b c d 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. contact