epocă

Forms

epocă f (plural epoci)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French époque, with Italian epoca beside it as a second model in DELR.^[2] DEX and Wiktionary name French alone,^[3][1] while MDA2 names French and Modern Greek εποχή (epochí).^[4] Ciorănescu takes the word first from the Greek form, in the 17th century, and takes it again from French in modern times;^[5] Tiktin gives only the Greek source.^[6] DELR also traces the old variants to different sources: epohi and epohie to the Greek form, epohă, epohe and epoh to German Epoche or the learned Latin epocha.^[2]

The French word is a learned borrowing of 1637 from Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhḗ, “stop, point of halting; period”);^[7] the Latin word meant the position of a heavenly body, the moment from which its changes of position are reckoned.^[2] The Greek noun is formed on ἐπέχω (epékhō, “to hold back, check”), from ἐπί (epí, “on, upon”) and ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold, have”).^[2][1] In Greek it meant a check or cessation, the suspension of judgement in philosophy, and in astronomy the position of a star.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1776.^[6] DELR's first record is of 1778, in the preface of a Mineiul (a book of the church services for each month), under the form epohí with the plural epohás; the form épocă itself appears in 1800, in Piuariu-Molnar.^[2] MDA2 also dates the word to before 1778.^[4] DELR gives its first sense as a moment that serves as the starting point of a chronology.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a fixed point in time was still the main one in the 20th century: Scriban defines the word as a fixed point in history, a notable date, with the example of the epoch of Slavonic and of Greek in Romanian history,^[9] and Șăineanu gives the same example.^[10] From it came the sense of a long period of history marked by its events, which is now the main one.^[2][3] DELR lists obsolete senses besides: a calendar period or season, a moment marked by an important event and used as a landmark, a stage in the growth of an organism, and in finance the day an account was opened, from which interest was counted.^[2] Geology uses the word for a division of time smaller than a period.^[2][3]

The phrase a face epocă “to make history, to set a fashion” matches French faire époque, recorded in French from 1762.^[3][7] De epocă describes costumes or furniture made in the style of a past period.^[2][4] The adjective epocal “epoch-making” is recorded from 1860.^[2]

Timeline

• 1776 – the first record, as dated by Tiktin.^[6]
• 1778 – epohí, plural epohás, in the preface of a Mineiul.^[2]
• 1795 – the variant epócă.^[2]
• 1800 – the form épocă in Piuariu-Molnar.^[2]
• 1825 – Epocă, glossed with Latin epocha, aera, in the Lexicon of Buda.^[11]
• 1848 – Negulici lists the word, spelled with -c- and with -h-, as a notable date in history.^[12]
• 1860 – the derivative epocal “epoch-making”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A period in the development of history or of a field of activity, set apart by its notable events; an era.^[3][4]
2. A time when the same thing recurs every year in the same conditions: epoca recoltei “the harvest season”.^[3][13]
3. (geology) A subdivision of a geological period.^[3][14]
4. de epocă: made in the style of a past period, of costumes or furniture.^[4][13]

Word family

• epocal

Usage notes

The stress may fall on the first or the second syllable: épocă or epócă; the plural is epoci, with an old plural epoce.^[3][4] The old variant epohă is marked obsolete.^[3] A face epocă means to draw attention, to cause a stir, or to set a fashion.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. epocă
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 357
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 822
5. ^ 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. epocă
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. epocă
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 472
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 232
11. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 205
12. ^ Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. epocă
13. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 217
14. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. epocă