figură

Forms

figură f (plural figuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French figure, partly also borrowed from Latin figūra (“shape, form”), an etymology with two sources in the usual way of Romanian dictionaries.^[2][3][1] Ciorănescu and the DA name only French.^[4][5] Tiktin, whose first record is from Dosoftei in 1681, takes it from Latin, partly through other languages.^[6] Scriban also gives Latin.^[7]

The Latin noun is formed on the root of fingō (“to shape, mould”) with the suffix -ūra.^[8] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to form, shape”).^[1] French took its word from Latin as early as 881.^[9]

In Aromanian the word is figură, also fighurã, which Ciorănescu and Pascu take from Italian (Venetian) Italian figura.^{[4][10][11][12]} Ciorănescu and Pascu compare Modern Greek φιγούρα (figoúra) and Albanian figurë.^[4][10] Babiniotis takes the Greek word from Italian as well.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Dosoftei in 1681.^[6] In Dosoftei's lives of the saints (Iași, 1682–1686) the word meant “face, appearance”, with chip as a gloss beside it: „Un om ... în figură ca acela” “a man ... like him in face”.^[5][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The old texts used the word for the face and its look, the sense that comes first in DEX.^[6][2] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 glossed it with Latin figura, Hungarian kép and German Figur.^[14]

In the 19th century the senses of French figure came with it: the drawn or carved image, the geometrical figure, the figure of speech, the figure of a dance and the figure of the syllogism.^[5][15] The phrase a face figură “to make an impression” is labelled a Gallicism.^[16][5] The sense “person, character”, as in o figură a vieții publice, followed.^[2][17] Among the Romanians of Austria-Hungary the word also meant “build, stature”, after German Figur.^[5]

Timeline

• 1681 – in a text of Dosoftei, the first record.^[6]
• 1682–1686 – figură “face”, glossed chip, in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[5][3]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[14]
• 1939 – Scriban lists the face, the geometrical figure, the figure of speech and the dance figure.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The face and its expression; countenance.^[2] A face figură bună (sau rea): to make a good (or bad) impression;^[2][3] a face cuiva figura (colloquial): to play a trick on someone.^[2][3]
2. An image of a being or object in drawing, painting or sculpture; a geometrical figure; a court card; a chess piece.^[2][17]
3. A person, especially one with a marked character; a personality, a type.^[2]
4. In set phrases: figură de stil “figure of speech”, figură etimologică “etymological figure”, figură silogistică “figure of the syllogism”.^[2]
5. A position or sequence of movements in dancing, ballet, fencing or skating.^[2]

Word family

• figura
• figurant
• figurat
• figurină
• configura
• configurație
• desfigura
• prefigura
• prefigurație

Related words

• Aromanian figură
• Latin figūra

Usage notes

Colloquial a se rupe în figuri means “to show off, to put on airs”.^[18] In Muntenia figură is also a stack of wood of one cubic metre.^[19] The verb figura “to appear, to take part” is a separate borrowing from French.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 393
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 903
4. ^ a b c d 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. figură
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. figură
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. figură
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 505
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 Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 209
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 456
12. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 452
13. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 1594
14. ^ a b 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. 217
15. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 250
16. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 287
17. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. figură
18. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. figură
19. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. s.v. figură