fond

Forms

fond n (plural fonduri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fond (“bottom, content, background”), and for the senses of money and stock borrowed from French fonds (“funds, capital”).^[2][3][1] Tiktin takes it from New Latin fundus, partly through other languages.^[4] Scriban names the French plural spelling and the Latin word in its sense “estate”.^[5] Gabinschi calls it a European loan of French origin, also taken from German Fonds and Russian фонд (fond).^[6]

In French the two spellings belong to one word and split their senses from the 17th century.^[7] The word continues Latin fundus (“bottom; landed estate”).^[7][1] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰ-n-ó- (“bottom”), with a metathesis of the nasal.^[8] The same Latin word survives in the inherited fund (“bottom”), and the two Romanian words are doublets.^[9][10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1780.^[4] MDA2's first record is a document of 1814 in the Uricariul, where the DA reads the variant fondos.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin records the old forms fund, fundus and funduș.^[4] Ciorănescu notes that some 18th-century writers, Șincai among them, used fund for the borrowed word.^[9]

The 19th century used the word for landed property and for money set aside for a purpose: Maiorescu speaks of the fondul Zappa destined for the Academic Society.^[10][5] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 glosses it with German words for capital and a sum of money.^[11] The abstract sense “substance, essence”, opposed to form, appears in Negruzzi and Maiorescu.^[10] The painting and textile sense “background” and the newspaper's articol de fond “leading article” were in use by the early 20th century.^[10][12] Linguistics added fond lexical principal “basic vocabulary”, and sport the long-distance events.^[3]

Timeline

• 1780 – the first record.^[4]
• 1814 – the variant fondos in a document of the Uricariul.^[2][10]
• 1886 – “capital, sum of money” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[11]
• 1931 – articol de fond “leading article” in CADE.^[12]
• 1995 – fond alone for a leading article, in the press.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. content, substance, as opposed to form: în fond “in fact, essentially”.^[3][2][1]
2. The essential traits of a person's character.^[3][2]
3. The background colour of a painting or fabric, on which the pattern stands out.^[3][1]
4. (sport) Long-distance events that call for endurance.^[3]
5. (physics) Background radiation or noise present during a measurement.^[3]
6. A fund: money or other assets set aside for a purpose.^[3][1]
7. The stock of goods or works in a field of culture: fond de carte “the holdings of a library”.^[3]

Related words

• fund
• Latin fundus

Usage notes

Articol de fond is a newspaper's leading article, and fond lexical principal the basic vocabulary of a language.^[3] A fi în fonduri means “to be in funds, to have money”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 927
3. ^ 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. 405
4. ^ 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. fond
5. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 520
6. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 107
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. fond
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. fund
10. ^ 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. fond
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. fond
13. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. fond