elimina

Forms

elimina (third-person singular present elimină, past participle eliminat, third-person subjunctive elimine) 1st conjugation^[1] MDA2 and CADE record an older present eliminez beside elimin.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French éliminer, as DELR, DLR and MDA2 give it;^{[4][5][2][6][7][8][9]} DEX, MDN and DILF add Latin ēlīminō (“to put out of doors”), and DN also names Italian eliminare.^{[4][5][2][6][7][8][9]} The French verb was borrowed from Latin, first in 1495 and again in the 18th century.^[10] The Latin verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and līmen (“threshold”).^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is Laurian's of 1846, in the sense “to remove, exclude, put out”.^[4] MDA2 dates it from Protopopescu and Popescu's dictionary of 1862, and Pontbriant's dictionary of the same year gives it with French éliminer “to put out, drive away”.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

The verb came in as a learned word with the senses “to remove, exclude, cause to disappear”.^[4] The technical senses followed the French ones: in algebra, to remove an unknown from an equation, a use French had taken up in 1777; in chemistry, to set an element free from a compound; in physiology, of the body getting rid of a substance.^[10][3][2] In schools it means to expel a pupil, and in sport to knock a competitor out of a contest.^[6][2]

The family came in at the same time: eliminație “elimination” is recorded from 1836, before the verb, and eliminatoriu and eliminator from 1880.^[4]

Timeline

• 1836 – the noun eliminație “elimination”, from French.^[4]
• 1846 – elimina in Laurian.^[4]
• 1862 – in the dictionaries of Pontbriant and of Protopopescu and Popescu.^[11][2]
• 1880 – eliminatoriu, in Eminescu, and eliminator.^[4]
• 1888 – eliminabil “that can be eliminated”.^[4]
• 1946 – autoelimina “to eliminate oneself”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To remove, exclude, take out of a group or a whole: a elimina un nume de pe listă “to strike a name off the list”.^[6][2]
2. To expel a pupil from school; to knock a competitor out of a contest.^[6][2]
3. To make disappear, suppress;^[2][3] (mathematics) to eliminate an unknown from an equation.^[2][3]
4. (chemistry) To set free from a mixture or compound;^[2][5] (reflexive, of heat) to be given off.^[2][5]
5. (physiology) To excrete; to breathe out air, exhale.^[6][2]

Word family

• eliminare
• eliminator
• eliminatoriu
• eliminabil

Related words

• French éliminer
• Latin ēlīminō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 802
3. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. elimina
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. elimina
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. elimina
6. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 349
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. elimina
8. ^ a b Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. elimina
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. elimina
10. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 238