dată

dată¹ time, occasion

Pronunciation

• /ˈda.tə/^[1]

Forms

dată f (plural dăți)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “time, occasion” is from Romanian dat (“given”), the past participle of da “to give”, used as a feminine noun.^[2][1][3] DELR lists it among the derivatives of that verb, and it also exists in Aromanian.^[4] Tiktin took it straight from Late Latin data, the feminine of datus (“given”), and the DA also derives it from Latin.^[2][5][1]

For the sense “fate, destiny” Ciorănescu compares Latin fata (“the Fates”) and the Romanian nouns zisă and scrisă “what is said, what is written”, which are also participles used as nouns.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the word to 1566, in a print of Coresi, in expressions of time: “a moment, an occasion that may recur”.^[4] Tiktin's first record is from Ureche's chronicle of about 1640.^[6] In the Evanghelia de la Govora of 1632 the plural datele means “customs, rules”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word is used mostly in expressions of time: o dată “once”, de astă dată “this time”, pe dată “at once”, dintr-o dată “suddenly”.^[2][7][6] The plural is dăți (de multe dăți “many times”); the plural of counting is usually ori: de două ori “twice”.^[6][8]

From “what is given” it also came to mean “fate, destiny”, in folk speech, with a plural date.^[2][5][1] The DA explains the folk phrase așa mi-a fost data “such was my fate” as a confusion with the feminine participle.^[5] The old sense “custom, rule” is kept in northern regions in the phrase cum e data “as is proper, as the custom is”.^[5] Romanian built many adverbs on the word: îndată “at once” (1607), altădată “formerly” (1632), câteodată “sometimes” (1648), niciodată “never” (1566) and vreodată “ever” (1628).^[4][2] Candrea derived Ukrainian дата (data) “ration” from it.^[2]

Timeline

• 1566 – in expressions of time, in a print of Coresi; niciodată in the same year.^[4]
• 1607 – îndată “at once”.^[4]
• 1632 – the plural datele “customs” in the Evanghelia de la Govora.^[5]
• c. 1640 – dată in Ureche's chronicle.^[6]
• 1648 – câteodată “sometimes”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An occasion, a time when something happens or is repeated: de fiecare dată “every time”, prima dată “the first time”.^[8][7][1]
2. (in phrases) o dată “once”, încă o dată “once more, again”, pe dată “immediately”, dintr-o dată “all of a sudden”, o dată cu “at the same time as”.^[7][2]
3. (popular) fate, destiny: what is given to someone to happen.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• îndată
• altădată
• câteodată
• deodată
• niciodată
• vreodată

dată² date; data

Etymology tree of dată²

inherited borrowed derived

French date

Romanian dată

Pronunciation

• /ˈda.tə/^[1]

Forms

dată f (plural dăți)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a date in the calendar is borrowed from French date.^{[9][10][11][1]} The dictionary of neologisms also names Italian data as a model.^[12] The French word comes from Medieval Latin data, the feminine past participle of dō (“to give”), from its use in the formula “(letter) given” that stood at the end of documents before the time and place where they were issued.^[10] It is therefore a doublet of the first homograph, “time”.^[1]

The plural “date” “data, facts on which reasoning rests” is a translation of French donnée, made on the Romanian verb for “to give”.^{[2][6][5][13]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1776, in a document published by Iorga, with the sense “date (of a letter, of an event)”.^[6] DELR dates the word to 1805, in the neuter variant dat, and the variant datum to 1819.^[10] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms gave it in 1848: an epoch, or the figure that shows when a letter was written or something happened.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the exact time of an event and its written indication on a document or letter.^[9][10][5] Later, mostly in the plural, the word came to mean the facts or figures that serve as the starting point of research or of a decision, and in mathematics the quantities given for solving a problem.^[9][11] Tiktin quotes Hasdeu on “very reliable data” for this plural sense.^[6] French dater gave the verb data “to date”, and antedata “to antedate” is recorded from 1840.^[5][10]

Timeline

• 1776 – first record, in a document published by Iorga.^[6]
• 1805 – the neuter variant dat.^[10]
• 1819 – the variant datum.^[10]
• 1840 – antedata “to antedate”.^[10]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A date: the exact time, given in calendar terms, when an event happened or is to happen.^[9][1]
2. The indication of that time on a document or letter.^[9][8]
3. (in the plural) data, established facts used as a starting point for research or a decision.^[9][11]
4. (mathematics) each of the quantities or relations given for solving a problem.^[9]

Word family

• data
• antedata
• postdata
• datat