costum

Forms

costum n (plural costume)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French costume, as DEX, Ciorănescu, MDA2, Tiktin and the neologism dictionaries give it.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} DELR adds that it may also have come through Russian костюм (kostjum).^[7]

The French word is from Italian costume (“custom; the dress typical of a place or a time”).^[7][8] French had it first in the form coustume in 1641, then in its present form in 1662, as an art term for the marks of age, rank and period in a picture.^[8] DELR traces the Italian word to a popular Latin *costum(i)nem, a remaking of Latin cōnsuētūdō (“habit, custom”), from cōnsuēscō (“to become accustomed”).^[7] Gabinschi pairs it with its doublet cutumă and describes the change of sense as “custom” > “usual dress” > “dress”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1829, in C. Negruzzi, where DELR reads the variant costium.^[7][5] MDA2's first record is Stamati's dictionary of technical and difficult words of 1851.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word still covered customs as well as clothes: Negulici (1848) defines it as customs and dress according to places, times and states, and Costinescu (1870) gives both the dress of a nation or period and the manners of a nation that a writer must depict.^[10][11] The DA's first sense is the dress fixed by tradition for a people, a region, a period or a class.^[12] The modern main sense, a suit of matching jacket and trousers or skirt, comes first in DEX.^[2]

Its derivatives are costuma “to dress in a costume”, from 1835, from French costumer, costumier from costumier, recorded from 1862 as costumar, and costumație, from 1941.^[7][3] Costum-taior “lady's suit”, after French costume tailleur, is in the press from 1963.^[13]

Timeline

• 1829 – costium in C. Negruzzi, the first record.^[7][5]
• 1835 – the verb costuma.^[7]
• 1848 – Negulici: customs, and dress according to place and time.^[10]
• 1851 – Stamati's dictionary.^[4]
• 1862 – costumar, a maker or seller of costumes.^[7]
• 1941 – costumație.^[7]
• 1963 – costum-taior.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A suit: a set of garments, jacket and trousers or jacket and skirt, for men or women.^[2][1]
2. The clothes worn on a certain occasion: costum de baie “swimsuit”, costum de bal “fancy dress”.^[2][5]
3. The dress characteristic of a people, a region or a period, port: costum popular, costum național.^[2][4]

Word family

• costuma
• costumație
• costumier
• costumat

Related words

• cutumă
• French costume

Usage notes

The phrase în costumul lui Adam means “naked”.^[14] Tiktin and Scriban record an old plural costumuri beside costume.^[5][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 242
3. ^ 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. costum
4. ^ 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, 522
5. ^ 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. costum
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. costum
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. costum
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 86
10. ^ 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. s.v. costum
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 261
12. ^ 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. costum
13. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. costúm
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. costum
15. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 354