coordonată

Forms

coordonată f (plural coordonate)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French coordonnée, also borrowed from Italian coordinata, the term of geometry, as the neologism dictionaries give it.^[2][1][3] The DLRM puts it after the French word, and the NODEX derives it from French alone.^[4][3] The DEX and the MDA2 do not list it as a headword of its own: they give it as the feminine noun of the adjective coordonat, the participle of coordona, which the DEX takes from French coordonner.^[5][6] The Romanian Wiktionary also derives it from the adjective.^[7]

The Italian noun is the feminine of coordinato, made a noun, and the verb coordinare comes from Medieval Latin coordinō (“to arrange in the same order”), formed on Latin ordinō (“to put in order”) with the prefix co-.^[8] The DELI dates the Italian noun as a term of mathematics to 1748.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin records the adjective coordonat in Heliade Rădulescu from 1836 and gives the feminine noun under it, with the German gloss Koordinate.^[10] Among the dictionaries used here, Șăineanu's of 1929 is the first to list the noun: in the plural, in geometry, the distances that fix the position of a point on a plane, a surface or in space.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The CADE of 1931 has the plural as a system of straight or curved lines that fix a point, and coordonate geografice for longitude and latitude.^[12] The dictionaries of the 1950s have three senses: in geometry, the numbers that fix a point in space or on a plane; in geography, the imaginary circles of the meridians and parallels; in astronomy, the numbers that fix the position of a star.^[13][4] The DEX adds coordonate ecliptice, the latitude and longitude of the stars measured from the ecliptic.^[5]

A figurative plural, “the data, the framework of something”, appears in the press from the 1970s: Dimitrescu quotes it from 1977 on, as in the “current coordinates” of cultural life.^[14] The DN gives the figurative sense as “direction, framework”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1929 – coordonate, in the plural, as a term of geometry in Șăineanu's dictionary.^[11]
• 1931 – coordonate geografice “longitude and latitude” in the CADE.^[12]
• 1955 – the geometric, geographic and astronomical senses in the DLRLC.^[13]
• 1977 – the figurative plural “data, framework” in the press.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics) A coordinate: each of the numbers, distances or angles that give the position of a point in a frame of reference.^[5][2][1]
2. (geography, in the plural) The system of imaginary circles on the globe, the meridians and parallels, by which a place is located.^[5] Coordonate geografice are its latitude, longitude and height above sea level.^[5][3]
3. (astronomy) The numbers that fix the position of a star or other heavenly body, with coordonate ecliptice measuring it from the ecliptic.^[5]
4. (figurative, usually in the plural) The main data or framework of something: Proiectul a schimbat coordonatele dezbaterii.^[5][14][2]

Related words

• coordonat
• coordona
• coordonare
• French coordonnée

Usage notes

The noun is mostly used in the plural, coordonate.^[14][11] The DN also lists a variant coordinată, closer to the Italian form.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. coordonată
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. coordonată
4. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. coordonată
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 233
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 502
7. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. coordonat
11. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 165
12. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. coordonat
13. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 544
14. ^ 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. coordonátă