front

Forms

front n (plural fronturi)^[1] A rare variant is frunt, shaped after frunte.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French front.^{[3][2][4][1][5]} Tiktin names Italian fronte beside the French word.^[6] Scriban takes it through Russian фронт (front), from French, and Gabinschi allows French and Italian models with Russian, itself from French or German Front, as a further channel.^[7][8] Its first record comes from a print that Vascenco studied for its Russian influences.^[6]

The French word continues Latin frōns (“forehead; front”), which also meant the front of a thing, in military use too.^[9] The same Latin word survives in Romanian as the inherited frunte “forehead”.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1789, in a print of Mihail Strilbițchi.^[6] The old sense is military: the face of a body of troops drawn up towards the enemy.^[5][7] MDA2's first record, from Ion Ionescu's book on the agriculture of Dorohoi (1866), has the architectural sense, the frontage on the street: „Lungimea ce face frontul cu ulița” “the length of the frontage along the street”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Scriban gives a face front “to stand facing, to resist, or to salute” and de front “frontal”.^[7] In modern use it means the whole zone of fighting in a war and the forces under one command, and in figurative use a group joined for a common struggle and the field where it is fought.^[4][2] Technical senses are the face of a mine, the plane of a façade and, in meteorology, the zone between two air masses.^[4][2] Regional speech uses it for the yard in front of a house and for a lintel.^[2] A Muntenian glossary records a ținut front “held out, resisted”.^[10]

The word frontovoi was borrowed from Russian фронтовой (frontovoj) for an officer promoted at the front without formal training; it is now dated.^[3]

Timeline

• 1789 – the first record, in a print of Mihail Strilbițchi.^[6]
• 1866 – frontul “the street frontage” in Ion Ionescu's book on Dorohoi.^[2][5]
• 1931 – a face front and a ieși din front in CADE.^[11]
• 1977 – front “the line of buildings along a street” in an architectural sense in the press.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The front in a war: the place where battles are fought, and the forces fighting there under one command: a rupe frontul “to break through the enemy line”.^[4][2][1]
2. A part of a theatre of war under one command, or a large unit of several armies.^[4][2]
3. A line of soldiers, pupils or athletes standing side by side facing whoever gives the orders: în front “lined up, at attention or at ease”.^[4][2]
4. (figurative) A group of forces united in a common struggle, and the field of that struggle.^[4][2]
5. (mining) The face of a deposit where rock or ore is cut.^[4][2]
6. (architecture) The vertical plane of a façade or of a row of façades; the side of a plot along the street.^[4][2]
7. (meteorology) A zone between two different air masses, marked by sudden changes of weather.^[4][2]

Related words

• frunte
• frontal
• frontieră
• fronton
• frontovoi

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 945
3. ^ a b c 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. front
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 416
5. ^ a b c d 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. front
6. ^ 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. front
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 529
8. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 107
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 156
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. front
12. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. front