font

Forms

font n (plural fonturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English font.^[2][1] It came in with the vocabulary of computing.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words quotes it from the press of 2003, in an advertisement for a printer that has “five fonts in memory”, „cinci fonturi în memorie”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to computing and typography: a set of characters of one design used to show a text on screen or to print it.^[2][3] It takes the Romanian neuter plural fonturi.^[2]

Timeline

• 2003 – fonturi “fonts” in a press advertisement for a printer.^[3]
• 2009 – DEX defines it as a character set used in writing with the computer.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (computing, typography) A font: a set of characters (letters, figures, symbols) of one graphic design, used to write with a computer.^[2][3]

Usage notes

An older, regional font is a different word: a unit of weight of about half a kilogram, still used for grain in Maramureș and Bucovina, and a balance.^[4][5] Tamás takes it from Hungarian font (“pound”), itself from Middle High German pfunt; the variant funt may come directly from German Pfund.^[6] It is recorded from the 17th century: „un font de nardos topit” “a pound of melted nard” (1648).^[6] MDA2 lists it under funt.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 405
3. ^ a b c d e Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. font
4. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. font
5. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. font
6. ^ a b Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 354
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 928