ecran

Forms

ecran n (plural ecrane)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French écran.^[2][3][4][1] The French word goes back to Old French escren (“fire screen”), taken from Middle Dutch scherm (“screen, shield”), a word related to Old High German skirm and German Schirm.^[2][1] Scriban already calls it a Germanic word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of 1846 that lists furniture for a house: clocks, lamps, shelves, mirrors and ecranuri, screens set before a stove or fireplace.^[2][6] MDA2's first record is Alexi's German–Romanian dictionary of 1906.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, the fire screen, is now old.^[6][4] The screen on which images are projected appears in CADE in 1931 and became the main sense with the cinema; by extension the word means the cinema itself, and micul ecran “the small screen” is the television set and television.^[7][3][4] Engineering uses it for a protective wall or casing against heat, radiation or electromagnetic fields.^[3][8]

Derivatives followed the cinema: ecraniza “to adapt for the screen”, recorded in 1931 in the theatre paper Rampa, from the noun or from French écraniser;^[2] Hristea thought Russian экранизировать (ekranizirovatʹ) later reinforced it.^[2] The technical ecrana “to shield” is recorded from 1929, probably after English to screen.^[2] Recent compounds include ecran-gigant “giant screen”, and slang uses the word for the face.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 1846 – ecranuri “fire screens” in a list of household furniture, the first record.^[2][6]
• 1906 – ecran in Alexi's dictionary.^[4]
• 1929 – ecranare “shielding”, the first form of ecrana.^[2]
• 1931 – the projection screen in CADE; ecraniza “to film a literary work” in Rampa.^[7][2]
• 1959 – ecranizabil “filmable”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A matt, usually white surface on which images are projected, as in a cinema; by extension, the cinema: filmul a ajuns pe marile ecrane.^[3][4]
2. The screen of a television set, computer or other electronic device;^[3][2][1] micul ecran: the television set, television.^[3][2][1]
3. (engineering) A protective wall or casing against heat, radiation or other physical action;^[3][4] ecran luminescent: the glass face of a cathode-ray tube.^[3][4]
4. (dated) A fire screen set in front of a stove or fireplace.^[4][6]
5. (slang) The face.^[10]

Word family

• ecrana
• ecraniza
• ecranizator
• teleecraniza

Usage notes

The plural is ecrane;^[4][6] ecranuri occurs in older texts and is now rare.^[4][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ecran
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 342
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 785
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 459
6. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ecran
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ecran
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. ecran
9. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. ecran
10. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. ecran