interior

Forms

interior m or n (feminine singular interioară, masculine plural interiori, feminine and neuter plural interioare); noun n (plural interioare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French intérieur and Latin interior (“inner”).^[1][2][3] The DA calls it a neologism after French, with the Latin word beside it, and Wiktionary names only French.^[4][5] Scriban derived it from Latin alone.^[6] The French adjective is a 16th-century remodelling of a borrowing of the Latin one, which is the comparative of inter (“between, among”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains the adjective as “which is inside”.^[8] MDA2 and the DA give a first quotation from 1865, on the „disciplină interioară” “internal discipline” of a church.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective soon took the figurative sense “inner, spiritual”, as in Maiorescu's „lumea interioară” “the inner world”.^[4] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 already has the noun, “the inside of a house”.^[9] The DA records it for the furnishing of a home, in Vlahuță and Caragiale, and for a painting of a room.^[4] The CADE of 1931 adds the inside of a tram, the inland part of a country and family life.^[10] The newest sense is a telephone extension.^[1][11]

Timeline

• 1848 – the adjective in Negulici's dictionary, the first record.^[8]
• 1865 – disciplină interioară in the Uricariul.^[2][4]
• 1870 – the noun “inside of a house” in Costinescu.^[9]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses the noun with German das Innere.^[12]
• 1931 – the interior of a tram and family life in the CADE.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Situated inside; internal.^[1][2]
2. (figurative) Relating to the moral or spiritual side of a person; not shown outwardly; lăuntric;^[1][2] for interior “conscience”.^[1][2]

Noun

1. The inside of an object, a space or a room, with its furniture; the furnishing of a home;^[1][2] în interior “inside”.^[1][2]
2. A painting of the inside of a room or of a family scene.^[1]
3. (cinema, plural) Indoor scenes.^[1]
4. (figurative) The moral and spiritual make-up of a person.^[1]
5. A telephone extension connected through a switchboard.^[1][2]

Related words

• exterior
• intern

Usage notes

It is pronounced with four syllables, in-te-ri-or.^[1] The noun's plural is interioare; the CADE gives interioruri and Scriban interioruri or interioare.^[10][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 515
2. ^ 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, 1149
3. ^ 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. interior
4. ^ a b c d e 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. interior
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 650
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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. interior
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 555
10. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. interior
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. interior
12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 284