district

Forms

district n (plural districte)^[1] Old Transylvanian texts have diștrict, deștrict and diștrictuș, after the Hungarian pronunciation of the Latin word: „În diștrictu și în protopopia Beiușului” “in the district and the archpriestship of Beiuș” (1732).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin districtus, a learned borrowing, with French district and German Distrikt as further models.^[2][3] Tiktin derives it from Latin, directly or through another language;^[4][5][6][1] DEX and MDA2 give French and Latin, and Wiktionary French alone.^[4][5][6][1] In Medieval Latin the noun first meant the coercive power of a judicial authority, a jurisdiction, and then the area under that jurisdiction.^[2] It comes from distringō (“to draw apart; to keep busy”), a compound of stringō (“to draw tight”).^[2][7]

The old variants listed under Forms reflect the Hungarian pronunciation of the Latin word.^[2] The adjective districtual (1776) shows the same: DELR takes it from Latin districtualis, and rejects DEX's French model because the French word is only medieval.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, of about 1724, names an Orthodox bishop of Timișoara, of Lipova “and of other districts”, districturi; it is one of the documents published by Iorga.^[3][2] Tiktin's first date is a document of 1732 from Beiuș.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word named the territorial units of the Banat and Transylvania, and chroniclers used it of the subdivisions of Oltenia and the Banat beside the native județ.^[3] Negulici in 1848 and Costinescu in 1870 explain it with județ and ținut.^[8][9] Under the old administration the counties of Romania themselves were called districts, and Scriban still glosses it “county”.^[3][10][11]

In modern Romania the word applies to other countries, and at home survives mainly in forestry, especially in district silvic.^[2][5] For a time it also named a local unit of sports competitions.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1724 – districturi in a document about the bishopric of Timișoara, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1732 – diștrictu in a document from Beiuș.^[4][3]
• 1776 – the adjective districtual, as diștretualiș.^[2]
• 1848 – district in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1931 – CADE uses it for the counties of Romania.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An administrative district in some countries, either the capital with its surroundings or a territory with a homogeneous population.^[5][6]
2. (dated) In the old administration of Romania, a county, a județ.^[3][12]
3. (forestry) A territorial unit of forest management, in district silvic.^[2]

Word family

• districtual

Related words

• strict
• strânge

Usage notes

The plural is districte; old texts also have districturi.^[5][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 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. district
3. ^ 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. district
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. district
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 322
6. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 732
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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. district
9. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 348
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 434
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. district
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, 134