grenadă

Forms

grenadă f (plural grenade)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French grenade,^[2][3][1] and DEX compares Italian granata and German Granate.^[2] MDA2 names Italian as a second source beside French,^[4] and Tiktin says the word came indirectly from Latin grānāta.^[5] The variant granată is a doublet of it:^[1] Gabinschi takes the variant from Latin under Italian influence and the headword from French.^[6][6][1]

The French word first named the pomegranate: it was borrowed from northern Italian dialects, from the Latin phrase mālum (“apple, fruit”) grānātum (“having grains”), the “fruit with seeds”.^[7] The military sense, a projectile thrown by hand, appears in French in 1558, from the shape of the fruit.^[7] The adjective is a derivative of grānum (“grain”),^[7] which Romanian inherited as grâu “wheat”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Nicolae Costin's chronicle, about 1710: „Au aruncat granadirii cu granate peste zid în cetate” “the grenadiers threw grenades over the wall into the fortress”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The form granată also meant the pomegranate: Tiktin records it in folk songs, mostly in the opening line, as in Frunză verde trei granate “green leaf, three pomegranates”.^[5] MDA2 and Tiktin list a popular form gârnată.^[4][5] In the 20th century the word was applied to the cylindrical object with a handle thrown in athletics, and by extension to that event.^[2][9] Modern dictionaries mark granată as a popular variant of grenadă.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1710 – granate “grenades” in Nicolae Costin's chronicle.^[5]
• 1953 – the athletics event, proba de aruncare a grenadei, in a newspaper quoted by DLRLC.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grenade: a light explosive projectile with a fuse, thrown by hand or with a special launcher.^[2][4]
2. (athletics) An object shaped like a grenade, thrown in athletics events; by extension, the event itself.^[2][4]

Related words

• granată
• grâu
• granulă
• angrena
• Latin grānum

Usage notes

Grenadă de mână “hand grenade” names the weapon fully.^[9] Granată and the popular gârnată are variants.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 449
3. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. grenadă
4. ^ 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, 1021
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. grenadă
6. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 109
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ 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, 412