episod

Forms

episod n (plural episoade)^[1] The variant epizod is common; older texts also have episodă, epizodă and episodiu, and a plural episoduri.^[2][3] Heliade wrote „să fie împodobită de feluri de epizoduri” “let it be adorned with all kinds of episodes”.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French épisode, the source DEX, DELR and Wiktionary give.^[5][2][1] DELR also names German Episode and Italian episodio.^[2] DLR and Tiktin add Modern Greek ἐπεισόδιον (epeisódion);^[4] DELR thinks this improbable, since the forms in -iu are recorded late.^[4][6][2]

The French word, first spelled ⟨episodie⟩, is a borrowing of Ancient Greek ἐπεισόδιον (epeisódion, “an addition; the part of a drama between two entries of the chorus”), the neuter of ἐπεισόδιος (epeisódios, “coming in besides”), from ἐπείσοδος (epeísodos, “entrance, intervention”), formed of ἐπί (epí, “upon”) and εἴσοδος (eísodos, “entrance”), which contains ὁδός (hodós, “way”).^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Budai-Deleanu's lexicon of 1818.^[2][3] Budai-Deleanu explained the term himself: „acest feliu de istorii vârâte să numesc episoade” “stories inserted in this way are called episodes”.^[4] Tiktin's first record is of 1821, in Leon Asachi.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word belonged to poetics: a secondary action inside an epic poem, a play or a novel.^[4][8] It soon also named any incident in a series of events or in someone's life: a war could be one episode in a long history.^[4][9] Music took it for a secondary passage between the main parts of a composition, and the theatre of antiquity for the part of a tragedy between two songs of the chorus.^[5] Film and broadcasting gave the modern sense of one instalment of a series.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1818 – the first record, in Budai-Deleanu's lexicon.^[2][3]
• 1821 – in Leon Asachi.^[6]
• c. 1832 – the adjective episodic in I. Golescu.^[2]
• 1870 – in Costinescu's dictionary, as an incidental story in an epic poem, a play or a novel.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A secondary action in a narrative work, or a fairly independent part of a story; in ancient drama, the part of the action between two songs of the chorus.^[5]
2. An instalment of a serial on film, television or radio: Am văzut primul episod al serialului.^[2][1]
3. (music) A secondary passage between the main parts of a composition.^[5]
4. An incident in someone's life: un episod neplăcut din copilărie.^[5]

Word family

• episodic

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. episod
3. ^ 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, 821
4. ^ 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. episod
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 357
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. episod
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. épisode
8. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 387
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 471
10. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. episod