direcție

Forms

direcție f (plural direcții)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dīrēctiō (“alignment, straightening; direction”), also borrowed from French direction, the double source given by DELR, MDA2 and DEX.^[2][3][4] Tiktin calls the Latin source New Latin.^[5] The Latin noun is formed on dīrigō (“to set in a straight line; to direct”) with the suffix -tiō,^[6][1] and the verb is a compound of dis- and regō (“to guide straight”).^[2] The French word was itself borrowed from Latin.^[1]

Older Romanian had several variants: derecție, direcțiune, direcsie, and Romanianised forms such as derepțiune, direpciune and direpție.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is a work of Ioan Piuariu-Molnar of 1785.^[2] Tiktin's earliest record is of 1815.^[5] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) already gives both main senses: movement towards a certain side, the straight line along which a body moves, and the office of a director.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word has two groups of senses, orientation in space and the course of a movement or action, and the running of an institution.^[2][4] It also names the governing body of an enterprise or institution, a division of a ministry, the post of director and its tenure, and the director's office.^[4][3] Direcție de scenă is an older name for stage directing.^[3][8]

In mathematics it names the property shared by all lines parallel to a given line,^[4] and in engineering the set of parts that steer a vehicle.^[4][2] The variant direcțiune survives today only in the sense “management of an institution”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1785 – first record, in a work of Ioan Piuariu-Molnar.^[2]
• 1815 – Tiktin's earliest record.^[5]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms, for the line of a movement and the office of a director.^[7]
• 1864 – the rare verb directa “to direct, manage”, formed on direcți(un)e and director.^[2]
• 1900 – codirector “co-director”, from French.^[2]
• 1957 – bidirecțional “working in two directions”, from French.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. direction, orientation in space of a person, object or action; the way in which something moves or unfolds: în toate direcțiile “in every direction, everywhere”.^[4][3]
2. (mathematics) The property that all lines parallel to a given line have in common.^[4]
3. management: the running of an institution, a company or the like.^[4]
4. The post of director; by extension, the time someone holds it.^[4]
5. The governing body of an enterprise or institution; a department of a ministry or central body in charge of one branch of its work;^[4][3] direcție de scenă “stage directing”.^[4][3]
6. The director's office.^[4]
7. The steering of a motor vehicle;^[4] bară de direcție the steel bar linking the wheels that turns them.^[4]

Word family

• directa
• bidirecțional

Related words

• director
• directivă
• Latin dīrēctiō
• French direction

Usage notes

The variant direcțiune is now used only for the management of an institution.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. direcție
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 721
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 318
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. direcție
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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. direcție
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. direcție