distanță

Forms

distanță f (plural distanțe)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin distantia, a learned loan, together with borrowed from French distance.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Marcu and Maneca also name Italian distanza,^[6] which Tiktin gives as the only source.^[7] The Latin noun is formed on distāns, the present participle of distō (“to stand apart, to be distant”), from dis- and stō (“to stand”).^[2][8] The French word goes back to Old French destance, itself borrowed from the Latin noun.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1736, a document in Stinghe's collection, where it has the form diștánție.^[2][7] MDA2 takes its first record from Paul Iorgovici's Observații de limba rumânească (Buda, 1799).^[3] The sense is the interval between two points or places.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The old forms distanție, distancie and destanție gave way to distanță.^[2][3] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) defines it as the space from one point to another, a depărtare, and notes that it is also said of time.^[9] From space and time the word passed to a difference of rank between two people and to reserve in behaviour: a ține pe cineva la distanță means to keep someone at arm's length.^[3][4][10] The adverbial la distanță has recently come to mean done without physical presence, by modern means of communication, as in adopție la distanță “distance adoption”.^[11]

Romanian borrowed related words separately: distant (1840) from French, and the verb distanța (first in 1883 as distanțare) from French and Italian.^[2]

Timeline

• 1736 – diștánție, the first record.^[2][7]
• 1781 – destánție in Micu's Logica.^[2]
• 1799 – distanță in Paul Iorgovici's Observații de limba rumânească.^[3]
• 1840 – distant “distant, aloof”.^[2]
• 1848 – listed by Negulici among the neologisms.^[9]
• 1883 – distanțare and distanțat in the newspaper Timpul.^[2]
• 1950 – distanțier “spacer”.^[2]
• 2008 – adopție la distanță “distance adoption” in the press.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. distance: the interval between two points in space: la distanță “at a distance”, din distanță în distanță “at intervals”.^[4][3][1]
2. An interval of time between two moments or events.^[4][3]
3. (figurative, rare) A difference, also one of rank between two people.^[4][3]
4. reserve in behaviour: a ține pe cineva la distanță “to keep someone at a distance”.^[4][3]
5. la distanță: remote, done through means of communication without being present.^[11]

Word family

• distanțier

Related words

• distanța
• distant
• echidistant
• Latin distantia

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 j k 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. distanță
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 730
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 322
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ 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. distánță
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 213
11. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)