frază

Forms

frază f (plural fraze)^[1] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 spells it frasă in the transitional alphabet.^[2] Older writers also used frasis and fras: Costache Negruzzi wrote „Făr' aceste slove nu se poate alcătui nici o frasis” “without these letters no sentence can be put together”.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French phrase, with Latin phrasis (“diction, style”) as a second model, a 19th-century neologism.^[4][5][6][1] The DN also compares Italian frase, and Scriban takes it from Greek.^[7][8] The French word was borrowed in 1546 from the Latin.^[9] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “manner of expression”), from φράζω (phrázō, “to tell, express”).^[10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) has frasă “a gathering of words forming a complete sense”.^[2] MDA2 gives Maiorescu's Critice as the first record; there Caragiale mocks „fraza demagogică” “the demagogic phrase”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the grammatical sense, the word soon meant a way of speaking, often in a bad sense: high-flown, empty phrases.^[3][8] A face fraze “to make phrases” meant to talk pretentiously.^[11][8] The musical sense, a sequence of notes forming a whole, is recorded by Scriban and the CADE.^[8][12] The compound frază-cheie “key sentence”, after phrase-clé, appears in the press from 1961.^[13]

Timeline

• 1848 – frasă in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[2]
• 1867 – Maiorescu's Critice, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1931 – the musical sense in the CADE.^[12]
• 1961 – frază-cheie “key sentence” in the press.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar) A sentence of two or more clauses linked by coordination or subordination, expressing one or more judgements.^[4][1]
2. Manner of expression, wording; in the plural, often pejorative: bombastic, insincere talk.^[4][5]
3. frază muzicală: a musical phrase, a sequence of notes with its own expressive sense.^[4][1]

Related words

• frazeologie
• French phrase

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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
3. ^ a b c 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. frază
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 412
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 939
6. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 526
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 260
12. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
13. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)