domeniu

Forms

domeniu n (plural domenii)^[1] Older forms keep the Latin shape: dominium and dominiu (plural dominiuri), as in Șincai's chronicle, „cetățile: Muncaciului, Făgărașului și Tocaiului cu dominiurile” “the fortresses of Mukachevo, Făgăraș and Tokaj with their estates”.^[2][3] Wallachian texts of the 1830s have domen: „Până când voi mai fi stăpân al acestui mic domen…” “as long as I am master of this small estate…” (1839).^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French domaine and learned borrowed from Latin dominium (“ownership, property, (Medieval Latin) estate”), as DELR and the DLR give it.^[4][2][3] DEX and Wiktionary give French as the source and compare the Latin word, while Marcu & Maneca give Latin and compare French and Italian dominio.^[5][1][6] The Latin noun is formed on dominus (“master”), which comes from domus (“house”), first the master of the house.^[4] The French word is probably an adapted borrowing of the Latin word, made before 1150; a less likely view derives it from Old French demaine (“one's own”), from dominicus (“of the master”).^[7][4] Graur puts it in the family of the Latin word for “house”, with domn, duminică, domestic and domiciliu.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is dominium in an urbarium of the village of Bătarci, published in the Anuarul Institutului de Istorie (XXII, 312), dated 1767 by Tiktin and 1771 by DELR.^[3][4] In these Transylvanian records, and in Șincai, Klein, Maior and Țichindeal, the dominium is a great landed estate.^[2] The form domen appears in the Organic Regulation of Wallachia in 1832, and domeniu in 1836.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the estate of a lord the word passed to the lands of the state and the crown: domeniile statului, domeniul Coroanei and the former Ministerul Domeniilor, which administered them.^[9][10][11] Domeniul public is the property used by the public, roads and bridges, and a work cade în domeniul public when anyone may use it.^[11][9] The abstract sense, the whole field of a science or an art, is in Șăineanu's dictionary of 1929.^[10] Mathematics and physics later took it as a technical term.^[5][4] The press of the 2000s has domeniu-cheie “key area” and nume de domeniu “domain name”, after English domain name and French nom de domaine.^[12]

Timeline

• 1767–1771 – dominium in the urbarium of Bătarci.^[3][4]
• 1832 – domen in the Organic Regulation of Wallachia.^[4]
• 1836 – domeniu.^[4]
• 1840 – domenial “belonging to an estate”, from French domanial.^[4]
• 1929 – the field of an art or a science.^[10]
• 2007 – nume de domeniu “domain name” in the press.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (in the Middle Ages) A great landed estate of Western Europe, formed of the lord's reserve and the land of his dependent peasants.^[5]
2. A field of a science or an art; a sphere of activity.^[5][1]
3. (mathematics) A domain, a set of points in which every point has a neighbourhood within the set and any two points can be joined by a polygonal line within it.^[5]
4. (physics) The range of values for which a measuring instrument can be used.^[5]
5. domeniul public: the property of the state used by the public; a work that cade în domeniul public may be used by anyone.^[11]

Word family

• domenial

Related words

• domn
• duminică
• domina
• domiciliu

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. domeniu
3. ^ 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. domeniu
4. ^ 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. domeniu
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 327
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. domeniu
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. domeniu
10. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 217
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. domeniu