etichetă

Forms

etichetă f (plural etichete)^[1] In Negulici's dictionary of 1848, in the transitional alphabet, the word is printed etiketъ.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French étiquette.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} DELR also names German Etikette and Etikett as models.^[4]

The French word, first recorded as estiquette in 1387, meant a stake fixed in the ground as the target in some games, and then a label fixed to an object.^[4][7] It comes from the Old French verb estechier (Picard estiquier) “to drive in, to pierce”, from Frankish *stikkjan (“to prick”), which is akin to Old English stician and Old High German sticchen.^[4][7] Scriban compares English ticket.^[8]

The sense “ceremonial” arose first in Spanish etiqueta, the Spanish loan of the French word, for the written rules of ceremony at the court of Charles V; it reached French at the end of the 17th century.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1820, a text printed in Racoce's Romanian chrestomathy;^[4][5] MDA2's first record is from before 1829.^[4][5] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 already gives both main senses: a small inscription or label stuck on a parcel of goods or a bottle to show what it contains, and the ceremonial of a court or of social relations.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The label sense gave a figurative one: a title, name or qualification under which someone or something is presented, often hiding its real nature.^[5][6] The court sense, “ceremonial in use at a monarch's court”, widened to the forms used between dignitaries and diplomats and then to the conventional rules of polite behaviour in society.^[5][4] Scriban records vizită de etichetă “a formal visit”.^[8]

In computing the word names a string of characters that identifies an instruction in a program.^[9][4] The verb eticheta “to label” followed in 1840, from étiqueter, and later gained the sense “to classify, to brand”.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1820 – the first record, in Racoce's Romanian chrestomathy.^[4]
• before 1829 – MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1840 – the verb eticheta “to label”, in the dictionary of Poenaru, Aaron and Hill.^[4]
• 1848 – Negulici gives the senses “label” and “ceremonial”.^[2]
• 1897 – etichetaj “labelling”, from French étiquetage.^[4]
• 1939 – reetichetare “relabelling”.^[4]
• 1970 – portetichetă “label holder”, from French porte-étiquette.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A label or tag: a piece of paper, card or other material stuck on or tied to a parcel, bottle and the like, showing its contents, price, owner or destination.^[6][10]
2. (figurative) A title, name or qualification under which someone or something is presented, often hiding its true nature.^[6][5]
3. (computing) A string of characters that identifies an instruction in a program.^[9][11]
4. etiquette: the strict rules of behaviour at royal courts and in diplomatic relations; by extension, the conventional rules of polite behaviour.^[6][5]

Word family

• eticheta
• portetichetă
• etichetare
• reeticheta

Related words

• French étiquette

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. etichetă
3. ^ a b 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. etichetă
4. ^ 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. etichetă
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 839
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 363
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 476
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. etichetă
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. etichetă
11. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. etichetă