garaj

Forms

garaj n (plural garaje)^[1] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written гараж.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French garage, one of the French neologisms of the late 19th century.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The French noun is formed from the verb garer (“to put in a safe place; to park”) with the suffix -age.^[1] Ciorănescu places it in one family with gară “railway station”, from gare, and the verb gara “to park”, from the same French verb.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Ion Ghica's letters to Vasile Alecsandri, in the edition of 1887.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The early dictionaries give the railway sense first: the placing of wagons on tracks of a station where trains do not run, as in linie de garaj “siding”.^[8][9] The shelter for automobiles and bicycles comes second in Șăineanu (1929), and Scriban (1939) also records the sense “large shop where automobiles are sold”.^[9][10] Today the main sense is a building for keeping, servicing and repairing motor vehicles; the railway sense lives on in linie de garaj.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1887 – first record, in Ion Ghica's letters to Vasile Alecsandri.^[3]
• 1929 – Șăineanu's dictionary gives the railway sense and the shelter for automobiles and bicycles.^[9]
• 1939 – Scriban adds the sense “car showroom”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A garage: a building or room for keeping, and often servicing or repairing, motor vehicles.^[2][3][1]
2. In linie de garaj: a railway siding, a track where wagons stand for a long time in a station or which links the loading area to the running lines.^[2][3]

Related words

• gară
• gara

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 426
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 964
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. garaj
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. garaj
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, p. s.v. garaj
7. ^ 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. gară
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. garaj
9. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 268
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 541