heroină

Forms

heroină f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French héroïne.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The French word is probably a loan (1903) from German Heroin (1898), since the substance was first developed in Germany; the name was formed on Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”), comparing the drug's exalting effect with a hero's ardour.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Lexiconul tehnic român, the technical lexicon published from 1949, where it names a drug derived from morphine.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Romanian dictionaries define it as a medicine derived from morphine, painkilling and narcotic and more toxic than morphine.^[3][2] The newer definitions stress its use as a narcotic: NODEX calls it a strong narcotic, and Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words quotes press reports of 1976 and 1979 on addicts and on an international ring of heroin traffickers.^[7][8] Slang has many names for it, among them cal, praf and doamna albă.^[9]

Timeline

• 1949 – the first record, in the Lexiconul tehnic român.^[2]
• 1976 – press reports on the treatment of heroin addicts, the first quotation in Dimitrescu's dictionary.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. heroin: a morphine derivative with analgesic and narcotic effects, more toxic than morphine, used as a drug: trafic de heroină “heroin trafficking”.^[3][7][8]

Related words

• eroină
• erou
• French héroïne

Usage notes

The pronunciation keeps the two vowels apart, -ro-i-.^[4][2] Dimitrescu notes that the word is also written eroină.^[8] The Romanian word for “heroine”, the feminine of erou, is the separate headword eroină, borrowed from French and Modern Greek.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1063
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 468
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
8. ^ a b c d Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
9. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. heroină
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 828