lift

Forms

lift n (plural lifturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English lift (“elevator”), according to DLR and MDA2;^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DEX, Marcu and Wiktionary add borrowed from French lift as a second source.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} French itself borrowed the English noun in 1885.^[6] The English noun, first “the act of raising”, is formed on the verb of the same spelling, “to raise”, which is from Old Norse lypta.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Theochar Alexi's Romanian–German dictionary of 1906, with the sense “elevator”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The lift for people remained the main sense;^[2] DLR's quotations, from Stancu, Vinea and Preda, show it in blocks of flats.^[2] Technical language added a device that brings oil to the surface of a well (or water from a borehole), and sport a stroke in tennis and volleyball that sends the ball upward, the latter recorded in a 1973 issue of Limba română.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1906 – first record, in Alexi's Romanian–German dictionary.^[3]
• 1973 – the tennis and volleyball sense, in Limba română.^[2]
• 1986 – Marcu and Maneca list the oil-well device.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An elevator for people; ascensor: Am urcat cu liftul la etajul cinci. “We took the lift up to the fifth floor.”^[4][3]
2. A mechanical device for raising oil to the surface of a well, or water from a borehole.^[2][7]
3. (tennis, volleyball) A stroke that gives the ball an upward trajectory.^[2][5]

Word family

• aerlift

Related words

• ascensor
• English lift

Usage notes

DLR also has an older lift, a variant of left, the gold or silver coin of former times worn on necklaces, which comes from Greek.^[8][9] Stati records it in Moldova for a gold coin with a loop, worn at the neck.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. lift
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. 1, 590
5. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. lift
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. lift
8. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. left
9. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 583
10. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău