elicopter

Forms

elicopter n (plural elicoptere)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French hélicoptère.^[2][3][4][1] The French inventor Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt coined the name in 1861 from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “spiral”) and πτερόν (pterón, “wing”).^[2][1] Scriban analysed the Romanian word as elice with the ending of dipter.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the word to 1894, in the magazine Vatra, with the variant helicopter.^[2] The MDA2's first record is only from 1969, a sentence in Contemporanul about linking airports with city centres by helicopter or by plane.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

CADE (1931) defined it as an aircraft whose propeller turns about a vertical axis, and the later dictionaries add that it can land on a very small space or hover in one place.^[7][3] The compound elicopter-macara “crane helicopter” appeared in 1976, probably after a Russian model.^[8] By analogy the name passed to a building machine with rotating blades used to smooth poured concrete, from which elicopteriza “to smooth concrete with it” was formed in 1999.^[2] Elicopterist “helicopter pilot” dates from 1960.^[2]

Timeline

• 1894 – elicopter in the magazine Vatra, the first record.^[2]
• 1931 – an entry in CADE.^[7]
• 1960 – elicopterist “helicopter pilot”.^[2]
• 1976 – elicopter-macara “crane helicopter”.^[8]
• 1999 – elicopteriza “to smooth concrete with a power trowel”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A helicopter: a powered aircraft lifted and moved by one or more rotors turning about nearly vertical axes, able to land on a very small space or to hover.^[3][2]
2. (building) A power trowel, a machine with rotating blades for smoothing poured concrete.^[2]

Word family

• elicopterist

Related words

• elice
• French hélicoptère

Usage notes

The plural is elicoptere; the variant helicopter is also recorded.^[3][2]

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. elicopter
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 349
4. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 802
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 464
6. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. elicopter
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. elicopter
8. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. elicopter