eroare

Forms

eroare f (plural erori)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French erreur (“error”), with Latin error (“wandering; mistake”) as a second source, as MDA2, DEX 2009 and Wiktionary give it;^{[2][3][1][4][5][6]} DELR, the DLR and Marcu and Maneca add Italian errore.^{[2][3][1][4][5][6]} Ciorănescu gives Latin alone, a 19th-century borrowing of the accusative errōrem.^[7]

The Latin word properly meant “wandering”; it is formed from errō (“to wander, to go astray, to be mistaken”) with the suffix -or.^[4][1][8] The French word is a 12th-century borrowing of the same Latin word.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1846, in Laurian, with the sense “false idea or opinion; mistake”;^[4][10] Tiktin also dates it to 1846.^[4][10] MDA2's first record is Heliade's translation of Byron's Don Juan, of 1847.^[2] The early texts also have the variants eroară, eroră and erore.^[4] Zalomit wrote in this way that man „e capabil de veritate sau eroră” “is capable of truth or error”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant both a false belief and a single mistake; Șăineanu and Scriban give eroare de calcul “error of calculation”.^[11][12][5] CADE adds the scientific sense, the difference between a calculated and an observed value, which the modern dictionaries define as the difference between the real and the calculated value of a quantity.^[13][3] In law it is a false picture of the facts or of the law that can void an act;^[3][2] eroare judiciară is a miscarriage of justice.^[3][2] The phrase a induce (pe cineva) în eroare “to mislead” is quoted by the DLR from Eminescu and Caragiale on.^[5]

DELR records the derivatives eronat “erroneous”, from French erroné, in 1856, the obsolete eroneu in 1860 and the back-formation erona “to falsify” in 1926.^[4]

Timeline

• 1846 – eroare “false opinion, mistake”, the first record, in Laurian.^[4][10]
• 1847 – in Heliade's translation of Don Juan.^[2]
• 1856 – the adjective eronat “erroneous” in Russo.^[4]
• 1860 – the obsolete eroneu “erroneous”.^[4]
• 1926 – erona “to falsify”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mistake; a wrong idea, opinion or belief; that which is wrong: o eroare de calcul; greșeală.^[3][2][1]
2. a induce (pe cineva) în eroare: to mislead, to deceive someone.^[3][2]
3. (law) A false picture of the facts or of the existence of a law;^[3][2] eroare judiciară, a miscarriage of justice.^[3][2]
4. (mathematics, physics) The difference between the real value of a quantity and its calculated or measured value.^[3][6]

Word family

• eronat

Related words

• French erreur
• Latin error

Usage notes

The plural is erori, the genitive-dative erorii.^[3][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 827
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 359
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. eroare
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. eroare
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. eroare
7. ^ 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. eroare
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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. eroáre
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 233
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 474
13. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. eroare