dom

Forms

dom n (plural domuri)^[1]

Etymology

In DEX and MDA2 it is borrowed from French dôme, compared with Italian duomo and German Dom.^[2][3][1] DLR and DELR give separate entries for the sense “cathedral” and the sense “dome”, with different sources.^[4][5][6]

In the sense “cathedral” the word is, for DELR, from the Italian, German and French words, which all go back to Medieval Latin domus (“house; house of the Christian community or of the bishop”), whence “bishop's church”.^[5] Tiktin gives Italian and French, DLR Latin and French.^[7][4]

In the sense “dome, cupola” it is the same French word, from Occitan doma, which comes, perhaps through Late Latin dōma or directly from the Greeks of southern Gaul, from Ancient Greek δῶμα (dôma, “house, hall; terrace”), of the same Indo-European root as the Latin word.^[6][8] The word had come in once before directly from Modern Greek, in 1804.^[6] Scriban too separated a “cathedral” word, after Italian, and a “cupola” word, from Greek.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DLR date the word to 1837;^[10][9] DELR has 1837 for the sense “dome” and 1855, in Negruzzi, for the sense “cathedral”.^[7][4][6][5] DLR's early quotations for the cathedral sense include Heliade's „Doma lui San Petru” “St Peter's cathedral”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In 1804 a Greek-derived doma, plural domata, appears in Cara's legal writings, probably with one of the Greek senses.^[6] The French-derived word of the 19th century named both great Western cathedrals, such as those of Milan and Cologne, and the cupolas of monumental buildings, the dome of the Invalides or of the Pantheon.^[4][10][9] It was soon used figuratively of the vault of heaven and of rounded mountain peaks.^[4] Technical senses followed: the steam dome on top of a boiler, a dome-shaped geological structure, and in anatomy a dome-shaped structure.^[6][2][11]

Timeline

• 1804 – doma, plural domata, from Modern Greek, in Cara.^[6]
• 1837 – dom “cupola”, the first record of the present word.^[6][7][4]
• 1855 – dom “cathedral”, in Negruzzi.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An imposing cathedral, the main church of some Italian or German towns; by extension a monumental building.^[2][3]
2. A dome or cupola over a monumental building, or the roof covering it.^[2][6]
3. (technology) A steel vessel fitted on top of a horizontal steam boiler to collect the steam.^[2][6]
4. (geology) A broad circular or elliptical vaulted structure.^[2]
5. (anatomy) A dome-shaped structure.^[6][12]

Usage notes

The plural is domuri, rarely dome; the old feminine variant domă is found in Eminescu: „noaptea-n doma întristată” “at night in the saddened cathedral”.^[3][2][13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 326
3. ^ 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, 743
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dom
5. ^ a b c d 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. dom¹
6. ^ 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. dom²
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. dom
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 441
10. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 148
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. dom
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. dom
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 217