insectă

Forms

insectă f (plural insecte)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French insecte, with the Latin form borrowed from New Latin īnsectum as a second model: DEX and MDA2 name French alone, while Tiktin, DN and NODEX give both.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The French word is a learned loan of 1553 from Latin īnsecta, the neuter plural of īnsectus (“cut into”), the past participle of īnsecō (“to cut into”).^[7][8] The Latin term is a calque of Ancient Greek ἔντομον (éntomon), the creatures being named for the notches that divide their bodies.^[1][7] Pliny explains the name the same way, from the incisions that separate the parts of the body.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Șincai, about 1805, in the spelling însectă.^[4] Molnar-Piuariu used a neuter insect.^[8][4] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms explains the word in 1848 as a small animal with a body made of rings or segments, such as flies and wasps.^[10] MDA2's first record is Grigore Alexandrescu's collection of poems and fables printed in 1863.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed zoological: DA defines it as a small jointed invertebrate with six legs, and DEX as a class of arthropods with head, thorax and abdomen.^[8][2] DA sets it beside the native words for small crawling creatures, gâză, gânganie and gândac.^[8][11] The neuter insect survived beside the feminine for a time: CADE lists both.^[11] In underworld slang it names a very small car.^[12] The combining forms insecti- and insecto- build learned words such as insecticid and insectivor.^[5][8]

Timeline

• c. 1805 – însectă in Șincai, the first record.^[4]
• 1848 – explained in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1863 – insectă in Grigore Alexandrescu's poems.^[3]
• 1931 – CADE gives the feminine and the neuter insect.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (in the plural) The class of arthropods whose body is divided into head, thorax and abdomen, with a chitin covering and three pairs of legs.^[2][3]
2. An insect, an animal of this class: insecte dăunătoare “harmful insects, pests”.^[2][6]
3. (slang) A very small car.^[12]

Related words

• insecticid
• insectivor
• gâză
• Latin īnsectum

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. 1, 510
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1141
4. ^ 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. insectă
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. insectă
6. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. insectă
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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. insectă
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. insectă
11. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. insectă
12. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. insectă