Etymology and origin of the Romanian word fișă
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 1931 CADE dictionary More words from the 20th century
- Borrowed from
- French fiche
- Ultimate origin
- Latin fīgō
Forms
fișă f (plural fișe)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from French fiche.[2][3][4][1] The French noun comes from ficher (“to drive in, to fix”), from Vulgar Latin *figicō, a derivative of Latin fīgō (“to fix, drive in”).[5][6] Ciorănescu, after Tiktin, calls it a doublet of fisă “token, counter”, which came from the same French word through Modern Greek.[4][1] Graur places it in the same Latin family as fix, afișa, înfige, prefix and sufix.[7]
Earliest recorded meaning
MDA2's first record is from Liviu Ioanovici's Tehnologia mecanică (1949), but the word is in CADE as early as 1931, with two senses: a small sheet on which a note is written and filed with others, and the round metal plug used to make a telephone connection.[3][8]
Semantic evolution
Scriban (1939) gives it two senses: a slip of paper with notes, filed among others, and a metal token used in games; for the token he calls the form fisă wrong.[5] Post-war dictionaries drop the token sense and add official forms: fișă personală, the personnel record of an employee, and fișă de sănătate, a health record.[9][2] Accounting and industry added fișă de evidență and fișă tehnologică.[2][3] The technical sense “plug” is still current.[2][10]
Timeline
- 1931 – CADE has it as a filing card and a telephone plug.[8]
- 1939 – Scriban adds the sense “gaming token”.[5]
- 1949 – MDA2's first record, in Ioanovici's Tehnologia mecanică.[3]
- 1955 – fișă personală and fișă de sănătate in the DLRLC.[9]
Meanings
Noun
- A small sheet of paper or card used for notes while gathering material for a piece of work; the notes on it; an index card.[2][3]
- (libraries) A card of standard size carrying the bibliographic details of a book or periodical.[2][3]
- A document or form recording data: fișă personală “personnel record”, fișă de sănătate “health record”, fișă de evidență “accounting record card”, fișă tehnologică “process sheet”.[2][3]
- (technology) A plug at the end of a cord, pushed into a socket to connect to an electric or telephone line.[2][1]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 397
- ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 910
- ^ 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. fișă
- ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 510
- ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera
- ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 44
- ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. fișă
- ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 296
- ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. fișă
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Fișă.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/fi%C8%99%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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