firmă

Forms

firmă f (plural firme)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Firma, according to DEX, MDA2, MDN, Ciorănescu, Tiktin and the DA.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Tiktin and the DA name Italian firma as the source of the German word,^[6][7] and Scriban gives the Italian as the source of the Romanian one.^[8] German took the word from Italian at the start of the 18th century, first for a merchant's signature, then for the name of a trading house and the house itself;^[9][10] Pfeifer thinks the change of sense followed English firm.^[9][10] The Italian noun, recorded from 1618, is from Italian firmare (“to sign”),^[11][1] from Latin firmō (“to strengthen, confirm”), which is firmus (“firm”).^[9]

The word is found south of the Danube too: Aromanian firmă, which Ciorănescu and Papahagi take from Italian.^[5][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1812.^[6] MDA2 cites Odobescu, from the 1887 edition of his works, where the word is used figuratively: „Firma regimului constituțional” “the signboard of the constitutional regime”.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The DA gives as the first sense the name under which a business is run, written on the wall or door of the shop or office, and by extension the board that bears the name.^[7] Barcianu glossed it in 1886 with German Handlungsname “trade name”.^[14] DLRM and DLRLC limited the sense of a company to the capitalist countries;^[15][16] DEX 2009 defines it as the name under which a trader is registered and, more generally, any business.^[2] In the press of the 2000s de firmă has meant “branded, made by a known maker”.^[17]

Timeline

• 1812 – first record.^[6]
• 1886 – firmă “trade name, firm” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[14]
• 1887 – figurative use in Odobescu's collected works.^[3][7]
• 2003 – ochelari de firmă “branded glasses” in the press.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sign on a wall or board at the entrance of a shop, firm or institution, giving its name and purpose; by extension, the board or panel that carries it.^[2][3][1]
2. The name under which a trader is registered and signs; generally, a company or business of any legal form.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• Aromanian firmă
• Italian firma

Usage notes

De firmă “designer, branded” qualifies goods made by a well-known maker.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 396
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, 909
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. firmă
5. ^ 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. firmă
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. firmă
7. ^ a b c d e 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. firmă
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 509
9. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
10. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 296
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. firmare
12. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 460
13. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
14. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 230
15. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. firmă
16. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 295
17. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. firmă