corporație

Forms

corporație f (plural corporații)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French corporation, a neologism of the 19th century.^[2][3][4][1] DELR adds Russian корпорация (korporacija) as a second source, and MDA2 gives a multiple etymology: Latin corporātiō, French, Italian corporazione, German Korporation and Russian.^[5][6] DELR traces the French word to English corporation, from Medieval Latin corporātiō, and takes the modern sense “large company” from American English.^[5] The DHLF dates the French word to 1530 and the Medieval Latin word to 1142.^[7] Old variants are corporațiune and corpurațiune.^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1831, in a Bucharest document published by Potra, and DELR dates it to the Wallachian Regulamentul Organic of 1832.^[4][5] In both it means a guild, a body of people of one trade organised by law.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word named the guilds, for which Romanian had older words such as breaslă, tagmă and isnaf.^[6][8] The DA quotes Ion Ghica's letters, where guilds march with their banners.^[8] The dictionaries of the 1950s limit it to the guilds of the feudal age.^[9][10] Later, after American English, it took the sense of a large company, especially a joint-stock company in the United States.^[5][11][2] The press of the 1970s spoke of a corporație-mamut, a giant corporation.^[12]

Timeline

• 1831 – in a Bucharest document published by Potra, the first record.^[4]
• 1832 – in the Regulamentul Organic of Wallachia.^[5]
• 1877 – the derivative corporativ in Eminescu.^[5]
• 1887 – in Ion Ghica's letters to Alecsandri, of the guilds.^[6][8]
• 1972 – corporație-mamut “giant corporation” in the press.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A guild: a medieval association of craftsmen formed to defend their trade and rights; breaslă.^[2][6]
2. A corporation, a large company, especially in the United States; a joint-stock company.^[2][11][1]

Related words

• corp
• corporativ
• corporatism
• French corporation

Usage notes

The older variant corporațiune is still listed by DEX.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 239
3. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. corporație
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. corporáție
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. corporație
6. ^ 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, 517
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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. corporație
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. corporație
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 556
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. corporație
12. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. corporație