hol

Forms

hol n (plural holuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French hall, a 20th-century neologism;^[2][3][4] DEX, DN and MDN give English hall as a second source.^[2][3][4] The dictionaries differ on the immediate source: Wiktionary names only French, MDA2 only English, and DEX, DN and MDN both.^[1][5][2][3] Gabinschi counts it among the internationalisms of English origin that reached Romanian through French and also through Russian холл (xoll).^[6]

French took the word from English in 1672, first for a guildhall in England; the sense “entrance hall of a building” is recorded in French from 1879.^[7] The English word goes back to Old English heall (“spacious roofed residence, hall”), from Proto-Germanic *hallō (“covered place, hall”), from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to cover, conceal”).^[8] Gabinschi groups it with hală and halbă under one etymon, which he calls common Germanic.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is from C. Ardeleanu's novel Am ucis pe Dumnezeu, published in 1929, with the sense “passage room of a dwelling”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word names two kinds of room: the large vestibule of a public building, a hotel, a station or a museum, onto which many rooms open, and the passage room of a flat that links the entrance with the other rooms.^[5][2] The classics quoted by DLRLC use it for the halls of hotels, theatres and faculties (Camil Petrescu, Mihail Sebastian, Alexandru Sahia), and it also became the usual word for the small hall of a flat.^[9]

Timeline

• 1929 – hol in C. Ardeleanu's novel Am ucis pe Dumnezeu, the first record.^[5]
• 1955–1957 – DLRLC defines it first as the central hall of a public building and then as the passage room of a flat.^[9]
• 1986 – DN records the spelling hall and the variant hal.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hall or lobby: a large vestibule in a public building, a hotel or a station, onto which other rooms open: holul gării “the station hall”.^[5][3][1]
2. The passage room of a flat or house between the entrance and the other rooms; an entrance hall.^[2][10]

Related words

• hală
• English hall

Usage notes

The plural is holuri.^[2] DN also records the English spelling hall and a variant hal.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. 478
3. ^ a b c d e f Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. hol
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. hol
5. ^ 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, 1081
6. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 110
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 465
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. hol