contacta

Forms

contacta (third-person singular present contactează, past participle contactat), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French contacter.^[2][3][4][1] DELR also allows a Romanian formation on contact, and the NODEX gives only that.^[5][6] Dimitrescu compares the English verb contact.^[4] The French verb is formed on contact with -er.^[1] The noun goes back to Latin contactus, the participle of contingō (“to touch”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1969, in a book by M. Simionescu, with the sense “to get in touch”.^[5] MDA2's first record is the third edition of the dictionary of neologisms (1978), which labels the verb colloquial.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Dimitrescu quotes it from the press of 1975, of specialists who may contact an institute's management directly.^[4] Its one sense is to get in touch with a person or a body.^[3]

Timeline

• 1969 – first record, in M. Simionescu.^[5]
• 1975 – in the press.^[4]
• 1978 – in the dictionary of neologisms.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To contact, to get in touch with someone: Vă vom contacta prin telefon.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• contact
• French contacter

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 493
3. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. contacta
4. ^ a b c d Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. contacta
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. contacta
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. contacta