laborator

Forms

laborator n (plural laboratoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Laboratorium and, at the same time, borrowed from French laboratoire, as DEX, DILF, MDN and Wiktionary give it.^[2][3][4][1] MDA2 adds Medieval Latin laboratorium, Tiktin and Scriban name French alone, and the DA calls it a neologism after French or German.^[5][6][7][8] Gabinschi describes it as an international word of Medieval Latin origin that Romanian took from French, German and Russian and fitted to the nouns in -tor.^[9]

The German word, of the 16th century, is from Medieval Latin, built on labor (“toil, work”).^[10] The French word was formed in 1620 on the supine of labōrō (“to work”) with the suffix -oire.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1830, and MDA2 to 1834.^[6][5] The old variant laboratoriu, plural laboratorii, stood beside it.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a room fitted out for scientific experiments;^[7] Scriban also gives the room where pharmacists and confectioners prepare their products.^[7][2] It came to name an institution or department that does experimental research, and de laborator means “made artificially, experimental”.^[12][5]

The figurative sense, a place where something is created, appears in phrases such as laboratorul de creație “creative workshop”.^[13][4] Recent compounds include navă-laborator and teatru-laborator.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1830 – the first record.^[6]
• 1834 – recorded by MDA2.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A laboratory: a room or building fitted with equipment and instruments for scientific experiments and practical work in the experimental and applied sciences: un laborator de chimie.^[2][1]
2. An institution or department doing experimental research.^[12]
3. De laborator: made artificially; experimental.^[5]
4. (figurative) A place where something is created or produced; a workshop of creation.^[5][4]

Related words

• German Laboratorium
• French laboratoire

Usage notes

The plural is laboratoare.^[2] The Latinist dictionaries of Antonescu (1875) and Barcianu (1886) have a different laborator “worker”, a Latinist agent noun.^[15][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. 574
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. laborator
4. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. laborator
5. ^ 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, 1301
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. laborator
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 724
8. ^ a b 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. laborator
9. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 120
10. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 553
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. laborator
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 717
14. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. laborator
15. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 159
16. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 339