frigider

Forms

frigider n (plural frigidere)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French frigidaire.^[2][3][4][5] Marcu and Maneca note that the French word is a trade name.^[6] Wiktionary takes the Romanian word from the brand name itself, English Frigidaire.^[1]

The French word was first a learned word of 1636, from Latin frigidarium (“cold room of the baths”), a derivative of frigidus (“cold”); it fell out of use, and in 1920 the name was taken up again in American English by General Motors as a trade mark, probably without knowledge of the old French word.^[7] In French it then came to be used for any refrigerator.^[7] The same word spread to other languages of the region: Wiktionary compares Serbo-Croatian frižider, Hungarian fridzsider and Yiddish פֿרידזשידער (fridzhider).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest quotation in the dictionaries is from the newspaper Scînteia of 1953, which lists refrigerators with furniture and washing machines among the household goods of a new department store.^[8] MDA2 dates the word only from DEX 1975.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries of the 1950s defined it as an electric cooler and compared ghețar, the older ice box.^[8][9] Later definitions describe an insulated cabinet with a cooling unit, run on electricity, gas or liquid fuel, for keeping food that spoils easily.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1953 – refrigerators among the goods of a store, in Scînteia.^[8]
• 1958 – defined as an electric cooler in DLRM.^[9]
• 1975 – entered in DEX, MDA2's first record.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A refrigerator, fridge: a heat-insulated cabinet with a cooling unit, used to keep food and other perishable goods cold.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• frig
• frigorifer

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 415
3. ^ 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, 944
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. frigider
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. frigider
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. frigider
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. frigidaire
8. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 331
9. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne