instrument

Forms

instrument n (plural instrumente)^[1] Older texts have istrument and the plural instrumenturi: „Cu aceastea dară cinii și istrumenturi […] Elinii au ieșit stăpânitori” “with these ranks and instruments, then, the Greeks came out masters” (Cantemir's chronicle).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French instrument and Latin instrūmentum, the two sources that DEX, DN and DILF name.^[4][5][6] MDA2 puts the Latin word first, and Tiktin calls it a New Latin loan, partly through other languages.^[7][3] The DA traces the old variant istrument to Italian istrumento.^[2] The Latin noun is formed from instruō (“to build, arrange”) with -mentum and meant “equipment, tools, apparatus”.^[8][1] Graur lists it with other learned loans from the same Latin verb: construi, instrui and structură.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and the DA give a document of 1707 as the first record, in the form istrument.^[3][2] Antim Ivireanul uses it figuratively of a person: „Și te-au făcut instrument la mijloc” “and they made you an instrument between them”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “tool, implement” came first; by 1794 the word was used figuratively of a means of ruin.^[2] Dinicu Golescu wrote of a factory of all kinds of mathematical instruments, and Constantin Negruzzi of the sound of musical instruments.^[2] The figurative sense “a person used by another” is in Bălcescu: „Omul este un instrument orb al fatalității” “man is a blind instrument of fate”.^[2] The old plural instrumenturi gave way to instrumente.^[2][7] Modern dictionaries add the phrases instrument gramatical “function word” and instrument de ratificare “instrument of ratification”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1707 – istrument in a document, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1794 – istrument “means” in a moralising text.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tool or apparatus for a particular operation; a device for observing or measuring.^[4][10]
2. A musical instrument.^[4]
3. (figurative) A person, force or thing that someone uses to reach an aim: A fost doar un instrument în mâinile altora.^[4][7]
4. instrument gramatical: a function word, which expresses only relations between words.^[4]
5. instrument de ratificare: the document by which a state ratifies a treaty.^[4]

Related words

• instrumenta
• instrumental
• instrumentist
• instrui

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. instrument
3. ^ 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. instrument
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 512
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. instrument
6. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
7. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1144
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
10. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. instrument