departament

Forms

departament n (plural departamente)^[1] Old texts have dipartament and depertament: „Dipartamentul Pricinilor Streine faci arătare” “the Department of Foreign Affairs reports” (1712), „la Depertamentul Trebilor Dinlăuntru” “to the Department of Internal Affairs”.^[2][3] The old plural was departamenturi: „pricini celor ce s-au judecat la departamenturi” “cases of those tried at the court sections” (1780).^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French département,^{[3][5][4][6][1]} which is from French départir (“to distribute, divide”).^[3] This goes back to Latin dispartiō (“to divide, separate”) (also dispertiō), from partiō (“to divide”) and pars (“part”).^[3] Wiktionary describes the French word as inherited from Old French departement, formed on departir with -ment.^[1] Scriban thought ⟨departiment⟩ would be a better form, after compartiment.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1712, as dipartament, in a document published in the Buletinul Comisiei Istorice: the Department of Foreign Affairs reports that a case had been started in the Committee of Moldavia.^[3][2] Tiktin's first record is of 1774 and MDA2's of before 1780.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th and 19th centuries the word named the ministries of the principalities, such as the Department of Justice (1772), of Foreign Affairs and of Internal Affairs.^[2] It also named a section of a law court, and departament de patru, de șapte or de opt was a court of four, seven or eight judges that tried cases between local people and foreigners.^[4][2] DELR records an old sense “part of a dwelling”.^[3] The sense “ministry” is now rare in Romanian use and survives for the United States, as in Departamentul de Stat “State Department”, while the general modern sense is a subdivision of a ministry, an institution or a firm, and the French administrative unit.^[2][5][8]

Timeline

• 1712 – dipartament, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1772 – Departamentul Judecății, the Department of Justice.^[2]
• 1780 – a section of a law court, with the plural departamenturi.^[2][4]
• 1787 – departamentar “of a department, official of a department”.^[3]
• c. 1832 – departamental in I. Golescu.^[3]
• 1932 – interdepartamental.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A department: a subdivision of a ministry, an organization or a firm.^[5][1]
2. (in the United States) A ministry: Departamentul de Stat “the State Department”.^[5][8]
3. (in France) An administrative unit governed by a prefect.^[5][8]

Word family

• departamental
• interdepartamental

Related words

• parte
• compartiment

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. departament
3. ^ 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. departament
4. ^ 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, 645
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 290
6. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. departament
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 404
8. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. departament