coroană

Forms

coroană f (plural coroane)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin corona (“crown”), a learned word, which the Academy dictionary DA thinks came in early through Hungarian korona or through Slavic, Bulgarian, Russian, Ruthenian or Polish korona.^[2][3][4] Ciorănescu dates the Latin loan to the 17th century and also allows an indirect entry, comparing the Greek, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Polish and Russian forms.^[5] DELR puts Hungarian first, with Polish for the Moldavian records, and the Medieval Latin word later; it finds a Modern Greek source, Modern Greek κορώνα (koróna), unlikely, since the first records come from Transylvania and Moldavia.^[6] Wiktionary also allows a Greek intermediary.^[1] Gabinschi likewise speaks of an old Latin loan that may have passed through one or more neighbouring languages.^[7] The scientific and technical senses follow French couronne.^[6]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “crow; anything curved or hooked”).^[1][6] Its inherited Romanian outcome is cunună “wreath”, and the borrowed word is its doublet.^[5][1][7] DELR explains the old variant corună by the influence of the inherited word and its variant curună.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the variant corună in a document of 1600, and the form coronă follows in a songbook of 1642.^[6] MDA2 cites the Codicele Voronețean through the DA, but the DA passage shows that this manuscript has curună in the phrase “crown of life”, while corona vieții is the reading of the New Testament of 1648.^[3][2] The early sense is the ruler's crown and the wreath worn on the head.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

From the crown as a sign of rule came the figurative sense “monarchic power” and the name of coins stamped with a crown, among them the Austro-Hungarian krone, which the Maramureș glossaries record as corună.^[4][3][9] The wreath of flowers gave the funeral wreath and the figurative “crowning, culmination”.^[4][6]

Later senses describe things shaped like a ring or a top: the crown of a tree, of a tooth, of a horse's hoof, the ridge of a peasant roof, the ring between two circles and the solar corona.^[6][4] The Order of the Crown of Romania, founded in 1881, used the word as its name.^[2]

Timeline

• 1600 – corună in a document, DELR's first record.^[6]
• 1642 – coronă in a songbook quoted by Tamás.^[6]
• 1648 – corona vieții “the crown of life” in the New Testament; the verb corona “to crown” in the same year.^[2][6]
• 1688 – coroană in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• 1691 – Tiktin's first record, in the Mărgăritare.^[8]
• 1843 – the derivative coronal “crown-shaped; of the frontal bone”.^[6]
• 1881 – the decoration Coroana României is founded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wreath of flowers and leaves worn on the head; figuratively, the crowning of something; a funeral wreath laid on a grave.^[4][1]
2. A crown of precious metal worn by monarchs as a sign of their power; by analogy, the papal tiara; the crown shown on coats of arms.^[4][3]
3. (figurative) Monarchic power, sovereignty; the monarch.^[4]
4. A unit of currency in several countries; the Austro-Hungarian krone.^[4][3]
5. The crown of a tree or shrub, all its branches together.^[4]
6. The visible part of a tooth above the gum; an artificial crown fitted over a decayed tooth.^[4]
7. The coronet of a horse's hoof.^[4]
8. (geometry) The ring between two concentric circles.^[4]
9. (astronomy) coroană solară: the solar corona;^[4] Coroana boreală: the constellation Corona Borealis.^[4]
10. (music) The fermata sign.^[4]

Word family

• corona
• coronal
• coronament
• coronație
• coroniște
• coroniță

Related words

• încorona
• corună
• cunună

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. coroană
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 514
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 238
5. ^ a b 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. coroană
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. coroană
7. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 88
8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. coroană
9. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. coroană
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Macc 10:20