descriere

Forms

descriere f (plural descrieri)^[1]

Etymology

It is the long infinitive of descrie, formed from Romanian descrie + -re.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The verb was made on the model of décrire and of Latin dēscrībō (“to copy, sketch, describe”), adapted to the native scrie “to write”.^[6][7][8] Ciorănescu treats it as a translation of the French verb, and Tiktin also compares descrivere.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1781, in Micu.^[5] MDA2 dates it to Golescu's notes of his travels of 1824–1826, where Timișoara is “a small town, but worthy of description for the beauty of its houses”.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

From the action of describing, the word came to name a written account and a passage of a literary work that portrays a scene through its details.^[3][10] The 19th-century press used it for travel accounts and reports, and Costinescu glossed it with French description.^[10][11] In geometry it means the drawing of a figure, the tracing of a curve or a circle, and the course of a trajectory.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1781 – first record, in Micu.^[5]
• 1781–1783 – the verb descrie in Micu's Logic.^[6]
• 1824–1826 – descriere in Golescu's travel notes.^[2][10]
• 1837 – descriitor “descriptive; describer”.^[6]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it with French description.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A description: the act of describing something in words, and its result.^[3][2][1]
2. A piece of writing, or a passage of one, that portrays a scene or a situation through its details.^[3][13]
3. (geometry) The drawing of a figure; the tracing of a curve or circle; the course of a trajectory.^[2][12]

Related words

• descrie
• scrie
• descripție

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 659
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 297
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. descriere
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. descriere
6. ^ a b c 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. descrie
7. ^ 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. descrie
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 658
9. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. descrie
10. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. descriere
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 316
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 67
13. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. descriere