lider

Forms

lider m (plural lideri)^[1] Until the mid-20th century it was spelled in the English way, leader: Sadoveanu calls Scarlat Castandachi „leaderul conservatorilor moldoveni” “the leader of the Moldavian conservatives”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English leader, and, according to DEX, DLR, DILF and MDN, also borrowed from French leader, itself from English.^{[3][1][4][2][5][6]} Scriban derives it from French and that from English, where it is formed on lead (“to lead”); he and Șăineanu note that it was pronounced as in English.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Șăineanu's dictionary enters leader as the head and chief speaker of a political party in England;^[8][3] MDA2 takes its first record from a later edition of the same dictionary.^[3] CADE (1931) also restricts it to England, and Scriban (1939) marks it as a barbarism.^[9][7]

Semantic evolution

From an English political term the word became the leader of any party or organisation; the dictionaries of the 1950s apply it to the leaders of bourgeois parties.^[2][10] In sport, from the 1960s on, it names the team or player at the top of a competition, and in the navy a ship leading a flotilla of light vessels.^[2][11] A rare sense is the leader of a jazz band.^[3] Recent press usage has lider de opinie “opinion leader” and lider de piață “market leader”, after English and French models.^[12] In the Republic of Moldova it also named the head of a group of peasants given land after the collective farms were broken up.^[13]

Timeline

• 1929 – leader “leader of an English party” in Șăineanu's dictionary.^[8]
• 1931 – in CADE, still about England.^[9]
• 1939 – Scriban calls it a barbarism.^[7]
• 1966 – the sports sense, in the newspaper Scânteia.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The leader of a party, a trade union or another organisation; also a dominant personality in a group.^[4][1]
2. The player or team at the top of a competition: Echipa a rămas lider în clasament. “The team stayed top of the table.”^[4][2]
3. (nautical) A ship that leads a flotilla of light vessels.^[3][6]

Related words

• conducător
• English leader

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. lider
3. ^ 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, 1363
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 590
5. ^ 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. 2, s.v. lider
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. lider
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 734
8. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 358
9. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. leader
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 756
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. lider
12. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. lider
13. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 165