folosire

Forms

folosire f (plural folosiri)^[1]

Etymology

It is the long infinitive of the verb, formed from Romanian folosi + -re.^[2][3][1] The verb is formed on folos (“use, benefit”), which Ciorănescu derives from Modern Greek ὄφελος (ófelos), reduced to φέλος (félos).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century (Psalm 93:1).^[2] MDA2's first record is Varlaam's Cazania of 1643.^[3] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the later 17th century list it from about 1660.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the old language it meant the same as folos, “benefit, profit”, and also “help”; both senses are now marked as old.^[3][2] The modern sense is the action of using something, “use, employment”.^[6][3] The 19th-century dictionaries still translate it “the action of profiting” (Damé) beside German Benutzung, Ausnützung (Barcianu).^[7][8]

Timeline

• early 16th century – folosire in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2]
• 1643 – in Varlaam's Cazania.^[3]
• c. 1660 – in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicons.^[5]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it “use”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. use, employment: the act of using (oneself or something) and its result.^[6][9]
2. (dated) benefit, profit.^[3][2]
3. (dated) help.^[3][2]

Related words

• folos
• folosință
• folositor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. folosire
3. ^ 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, 926
4. ^ 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. folos
5. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. folosire
6. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 404
7. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. folosire
8. ^ 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. 232
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 314