jachetă

Forms

jachetă f (plural jachete)^[1] A neuter jachet is recorded too, in Camil Petrescu, and in the countryside jaghetă and jaghet.^[2][3][4] Diminutives are jachetuță, as in Caragiale: „Purtau unii redingotă, alții jachetuță scurtă” “some wore frock coats, others short jackets”, and jachețică.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French jaquette.^[5][6][3][1] Ciorănescu compares Modern Greek ζακέτα (zakéta) and Turkish ceket, which come from the same French word.^[7][8] The French word is a diminutive of jaque, a short padded doublet of the Middle Ages, named after Jacques, the nickname of the peasants who rose in 1358.^[9][4]

The word was borrowed separately as Aromanian jachetã.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the writings of C. Negruzzi, which MDA2 quotes from the 1872 edition: „Îmbodoliți în surtuce și jachete” “wrapped up in frock coats and jackets”.^[6][2] It meant a black coat worn by townsmen, fitted at the waist, with tails reaching below the knee.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In town the men's tailed coat became a formal garment, worn as a dress coat almost to the knee.^[3][5] By analogy the word passed to a women's fitted jacket worn over a blouse.^[3] In the countryside it was used for coats of men, women or children, a sense that Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 already has.^[3]

Today the main sense is a short women's jacket, often knitted, fastened in front.^[5] In 1979 the press used the compound jachetă-taior for the jacket of a two-piece suit.^[12]

Timeline

• before 1872 – jachete in C. Negruzzi's writings, which MDA2 quotes from the 1872 edition.^[6]
• 1870 – a countryside coat, in Costinescu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1893 – recorded by Damé, with the plural jachete.^[13]
• 1931 – CADE gives the townsman's tailed coat and the women's jacket.^[14]
• 1979 – jachetă-taior “suit jacket” in the press.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A women's jacket, often knitted, fastened in front and worn over a blouse or a dress.^[5][6]
2. A men's formal coat fitted at the waist and reaching almost to the knee, a morning coat.^[5][6]
3. (generalized) Any jacket worn by women, men or children.^[6]

Related words

• French jaquette

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 694
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. jachetă
4. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 710
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 563
6. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1273
7. ^ 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. jachetă
8. ^ Tietze, Andreas (2002–2018), Tarihi ve Etimolojik Türkiye Türkçesi Lugatı, Istanbul: Simurg; Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 590
11. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 568
12. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. jachetă
13. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 1
14. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. jachetă