forma

Forms

forma (third-person singular present formează, past participle format) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French former (“to form”), also borrowed from Latin fōrmō (“to shape, fashion”), the sources DEX, MDA2 and Marcu name;^[2][3][4][5] Marcu & Maneca add Italian formare.^[2][3][4][5] Ciorănescu counts the verb among the derivatives of formă that came from French.^[6] Tiktin connects it with the Latin noun and says it came through several intermediaries.^[7] The Latin verb is formed on fōrma (“form, shape”).^[1]

Older forms show other routes: Tiktin records înfurma in Văcărescu, înfurmui in Dosoftei, and formălui.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Dosoftei in 1679.^[7] The sense there is not given;^[7] Tiktin glosses the verb as “to form, shape, fashion”.^[7] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 lists formare “to found, to make” among the neologisms.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The verb kept the range of the French and Latin ones: to give shape and being to a thing, to make up a whole of several parts, and to shape a person by education.^[2][4] Tiktin quotes Ghica for the reflexive: the Albanian mercenaries “formed themselves into robber bands”.^[7] In grammar it is used for forming the tenses of a verb.^[7][9] A technical sense of foundry work, making casting moulds, was added later.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1679 – the verb in Dosoftei, the first record.^[7]
• 1848 – formare in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1893 – MDA2's first record, in Iacob Negruzzi's works.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To give being and shape to something; to form, make;^[2][3][1] (reflexive) to come into being, arise.^[2][3][1]
2. (transitive) To educate, bring up, train.^[2][3]
3. (transitive; of several elements) To make up, compose; to constitute.^[2][1]
4. (technical) To make foundry moulds.^[2][3]

Word family

• formare
• formator

Related words

• formă
• Latin fōrmō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 406
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 930
4. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. forma
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. forma
6. ^ 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. formă
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. forma
8. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. formare
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. forma