inginer

Forms

inginer m (plural ingineri, feminine equivalent ingineră)^[1]

Etymology

The dictionaries name several sources, as for many neologisms.^[2][3] According to DEX it is borrowed from Italian ingegnere, comparing Russian инженер (inžener), French ingénieur and German Ingenieur.^[2][4] Ciorănescu also gives the Italian form ingegnero, of the 19th century.^[5] MDA2 lists four sources, the French, German, Italian and Russian words, and the neologism dictionaries three, the French, Italian and German ones.^[3][6][7] Tiktin, Scriban and NODEX give French alone, and Wiktionary French or German.^{[8][9][10][1]}

The French word refashions Old French engigneor “builder of war engines” after the verb s'ingénier; it is a derivative of engin “war machine”.^[11] The Italian word goes back to Old French as well, and German took the word first from Italian, then from French.^[12][13] At the root of all of them is Latin ingenium (“innate character, ingenuity”), which also came to mean a war machine in Medieval Latin.^[14][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1715.^[8] MDA2's first record is in a document printed in the Uricariul, from before 1803, which explains the word as the teacher of practical geometry “whom the French call inginer”.^[3][16]

Semantic evolution

The first engineers in the record are military and civil builders: the DA lists the engineer of fortifications, of mines, of bridges and roads, and the surveyor who fixed the bounds of an estate (inginer-hotarnic).^[16] The modern sense is the holder of a higher technical degree who designs, researches and runs industrial processes, and the title such a person holds.^[2][3]

Colloquial speech made fun of the word: an inginer de poduri “bridge engineer” was a vagabond, a man who walks the streets as if measuring them.^[9][16][17] Recent slang uses inginer for someone who stands with his hands behind his back commenting while others work.^[18] Computing brought inginer de sistem, modelled on French.^[19]

Timeline

• 1715 – the first record.^[8]
• before 1803 – inginer in a document of the Uricariul.^[3]
• 1859 – inginerul ținutului “the district engineer” in a document of the Uricariul.^[16]
• 2000 – inginer de sistem “systems engineer” in the press.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. An engineer: a specialist with higher technical training who designs, researches, organizes and runs technological processes; also the title of such a person.^[2][3][1]
2. (dated, colloquial, chiefly inginer de poduri) A vagabond, an idler who roams the streets.^[3][16]
3. (slang, pejorative) Someone who stands by and comments while others do the work.^[18]

Word family

• inginereasă
• inginerie
• ingineresc
• inginerește

Usage notes

The feminine is ingineră;^[5] inginereasă is an engineer's wife or, later, a woman engineer.^[2][5] MDA2 records the Moldavian variants ingineriu and inginier and the regional injerel and ingerel.^[3][8] The old phrase plan de inginer chior “a one-eyed engineer's plan” meant talk with a double meaning.^[3][16]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 508
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1137
4. ^ 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. inginer
5. ^ 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. inginer
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. inginer
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. inginer
8. ^ 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. inginer
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 640
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. inginer
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 444
14. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
15. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 49
16. ^ a b c d e f 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. inginer
17. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. inginer
18. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. inginer
19. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. inginér