dală

Forms

dală f (plural dale)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French dalle (“flagstone, slab”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The French word first meant “gutter, sink” and then a plate covering a roof; it is from Old Norse dæla (“gutter (on a ship's deck)”).^[2][6] It is first recorded in Normandy in 1331 and spread as a seafaring term.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1853, in George Baronzi's translation of Eugène Sue's Matilda, with the sense “slab, flagstone”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Scriban counted the word as a barbarism for lespede “flagstone”.^[7] It became a building term: a thin slab of stone, marble, concrete or plastic for floors, pavements and wall facings, and the reinforced-concrete slab of a floor or vault.^[4][3] Its derivatives belong to the 20th century: dalaj “paving”, from French dallage, in 1953, dalat “made of a slab” in 1952 and dala “to pave with slabs” in 1966.^[2]

Timeline

• 1853 – dală “flagstone” in Baronzi's translation of Sue, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1952 – dalat “made of a single concrete slab”.^[2]
• 1953 – dalaj “paving” in Călinescu.^[2]
• 1966 – the long infinitive dalare “paving with slabs”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thin slab or tile of stone, marble, concrete or plastic, used for floors, pavements and wall facings.^[4][3]
2. The reinforced-concrete slab of a floor or vault.^[4][3]
3. (rare) A flagstone, lespede.^[3]

Word family

• dala

Usage notes

MDA2 records an old spelling dallă.^[3] A second dală in MDA2 is a variant of dalie “dahlia”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. dală
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 596
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 269
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. dală
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 387