culoare

Forms

culoare f (plural culori)^[1] The older spelling coloare, under which DA and Ciorănescu list the word, is in Constantin Negruzzi: „florile n-au nici colori, nici parfum” “flowers have neither colours nor scent”.^[2][3] Tiktin and MDA2 record an obsolete masculine color.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin color, a learned loan, reinforced by French couleur, with Italian colore as a further model: DELR and Tiktin give all three.^[6][4] MDA2 and NODEX name French and Latin, and Wiktionary the Latin word reinforced by the French one.^[5][7][1] For Ciorănescu the Latin word came in the 19th century as ⟨coloare⟩, and the form with /u/ is due to the French word.^[3] DA calls the word a neologism after French.^[2]

The Latin noun, earlier colōs, goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, conceal”): the word first meant “covering” and shifted to “colour”.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the plural colori in a text by Gherasim of 1787.^[6] Tiktin's is Șincai in 1806, and Negulici's dictionary of 1848 lists it with Latin color and the native față and vopsea.^[4][9] MDA2 dates it 1872, the year of an edition of Negruzzi.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Beside the colour of things, the word soon named the paints themselves, the national colours of a flag, the suits of playing cards and, figuratively, the manner in which someone or something is described, as in culoare locală “local colour”.^[2][6][10] It also came to mean the political leaning of a person or a newspaper.^[11][6]

Ciorănescu notes that the sectors of a town were once named after colours, so that a șef de culoare was the head of a district.^[3] DELR lists such administrative divisions among the senses.^[6] Expressions describe the face: a avea culoare “to look healthy”, a-și pierde culoarea “to turn pale”.^[12][5]

Timeline

• 1787 – the plural colori in Gherasim, the first record.^[6]
• 1806 – in Șincai.^[4]
• c. 1832 – the verb colora “to colour”, from French.^[6]
• 1840 – colorant and colorist.^[6]
• 1848 – Negulici's dictionary of neologisms lists the word.^[9]
• 1852 – bicolor “two-coloured”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. colour: the property of light given by its spectral composition, and the coloured look of things;^[1] culoare caldă “warm colour”, culoare rece “cool colour”;^[1] de culoare “with dark skin”.^[12][5][1]
2. (figurative) The way someone or something is described or presented;^[10] culoare locală “local colour”.^[12][10]
3. A colouring substance, a paint or dye.^[7][2]
4. A suit of playing cards.^[7][6]
5. The political leaning of a person, newspaper or party.^[11]

Word family

• bicolor
• colora
• colorant
• colorat
• coloratură
• colorist
• colorit

Related words

• decolora
• incolor
• tricolor

Usage notes

The plural is culori.^[12] The spelling coloare was usual into the 20th century: DA and CADE list the word under it.^[2][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. coloare
3. ^ a b c 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. coloare
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. culoare
5. ^ 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, 568
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. culoare
7. ^ 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. culoare
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. culoare
10. ^ a b c Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. culoare
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. culoare
12. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 258
13. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. culoare