lanternă

Forms

lanternă f (plural lanterne)^[1] The first record has the form laternă;^[2][3] lăternă and a neuter lantern are rare variants.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French lanterne and Italian lanterna.^[4][3][2] DEX and Wiktionary give French alone.^[5][1] The old form laternă is borrowed from German Laterne, according to the DLR.^[4]

The French word continues Latin lanterna, an adaptation of Ancient Greek λαμπτήρ (lamptḗr, “torch, lamp”), perhaps through Etruscan, and influenced by lucerna (“oil lamp”).^[6][1][7] The Greek noun is formed on λάμπω (lámpō, “to shine”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the glossary known as Anonymus Caransebesiensis, of about 1670, with the form laternă “lantern”.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century lanternă was a learned word beside the usual felinar: Negulici in 1848 and Costinescu in 1870 explain it with felinar.^[8][9] Alecsandri writes of galleries with great lanterns.^[4] The phrases lanternă venețiană “paper lantern” and lanternă magică “magic lantern” are recorded in the DLR and CADE.^[4][10]

With electricity the word moved to the portable battery lamp, lanternă electrică or de buzunar, now its main sense, and the sense “lantern” became rare.^[4][5][1] It also names the lights of a vehicle, and figuratively the competitor who comes last.^[3] In slang lanterne are eyes.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – laternă in Anonymus Caransebesiensis, the first record.^[2]
• 1848 – lanternă in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1870 – in Costinescu's dictionary, explained as felinar.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lantern;^[5][3] lanternă venețiană a paper lantern;^[5][3] lanternă magică a magic lantern, which projects an enlarged picture from a glass plate onto a screen.^[5][3]
2. A flashlight, torch: a small portable lamp that runs on a battery: Și-a luat lanterna ca să coboare în pivniță.^[5][3][1]
3. (architecture) A small turret with windows on a roof or a dome.^[5][12]
4. A light on a car, a locomotive or a bicycle;^[3] lanterne de poziție the parking lights.^[3]
5. (figurative) The competitor in last place.^[3]

Related words

• torță
• lampă
• felinar
• French lanterne

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. lantérnă
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1310
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. lanternă
5. ^ 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. 576
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. lanternă
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 16
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. lanternă
11. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. lanternă
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 722