dormitor

Forms

dormitor n (plural dormitoare)^[1]

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Latin dormītōrium (“bedroom, dormitory”), a learned borrowing, partly borrowed from Italian dormitorio.^[2][3] DEX, MDA2, Scriban and Marcu name only the Latin word.^[4][5][6][7] The Latin noun is the neuter of dormītōrius (“of or for sleeping”), from dormiō (“to sleep”).^[1] Its Romance relatives include French dortoir and the Spanish dormidor.^[8]

Ciorănescu and Wiktionary instead list it among the derivatives of dormi, with the agent suffix -tor.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the noun to 1829, in the form dormitoriu in the newspaper Albina românească, with the sense “bedroom”.^[2] MDA2 has its first record only in Negruzzi's works, published in 1872.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The noun first named a room for sleeping, and in 19th- and early 20th-century dictionaries above all the large common sleeping hall of a school, barracks or community.^[6][10][11] The private bedroom of a home is now the first sense, and by extension the word names the set of bedroom furniture: un dormitor de nuc “a walnut bedroom suite”.^[4][12]

Recent Romanian uses it as the second part of compounds for things meant for sleeping: vagon-dormitor “sleeping car”, navă-dormitor, and cartier-dormitor or oraș-dormitor “dormitory suburb, dormitory town”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1829 – the noun dormitoriu “bedroom” in Albina românească.^[2]
• 1872 – dormitor in Negruzzi, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it German Schlafzimmer.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bedroom: a room for sleeping in a home, or a dormitory in a school, a barracks and the like.^[4][15][1]
2. A set of furniture for a bedroom.^[4][5]

Related words

• dormi
• dormita
• dormeză
• Latin dormītōrium

Usage notes

The plural is dormitoare.^[4] The rare adjective dormitor “sleeping, given to sleep”, older than the noun, is a Romanian formation on dormi with -tor.^[5][2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. dormi
3. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. dormitor
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 328
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 747
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 443
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. dormitor
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2753
9. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. dormi
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. dormitor
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 218
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 155
13. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. dormitor
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 194
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. dormitor