ligă

Forms

ligă f (plural ligi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French ligue (“league”), together with Italian liga: DEX, the DILF and Marcu give both models, while Wiktionary and CADE name only French and the MDA2 puts Italian first.^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]}

The French word was borrowed at the beginning of the 14th century from the Italian word, recorded in the 13th century in the sense “alliance”, an old northern form of lega.^[7] That is a noun made from the verb ligare, the older form of legare (“to bind”),^[7] which goes back to Latin ligō (“to tie”).^[1] Scriban gives the same chain and notes that the root is that of alianță.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The MDA2 dates the first record to 1693, in the Foletul novei, the calendar of Constantin Brâncoveanu (1693–1704).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is an alliance of states, offensive or defensive, which Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 also extends to a plot to carry out a plan, after French ligue.^[9][6] From the political sense came an association of private persons with a political or cultural aim, such as the Liga pentru cultura poporului român of the late 19th century.^[10][6] The Liga pentru unitatea culturală a tuturor românilor was founded in Bucharest in 1890.^[11] Marcu adds a historical sense, a politico-military alliance of Greek city-states under one leader.^[4]

Timeline

• 1693 – first record, in the Foletul novei, Brâncoveanu's calendar.^[5]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it as a confederation or alliance of states, and a plot.^[9]
• 1890 – the Liga pentru unitatea culturală a tuturor românilor is founded in Bucharest.^[11]
• 1926 – a Banat word ligă “mole (on the skin)” in Candrea's dictionary, a separate loan.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A league: a union, association or coalition of states, cities, societies or persons formed to reach a common aim: Cele două orașe au intrat într-o ligă comercială.^[2][5]
2. (historical) A politico-military alliance of ancient Greek states under the lead of one of them.^[4]

Related words

• lega
• alianță

Usage notes

The MDA2 records a second, regional ligă from the Banat, meaning a small mole or birthmark (aluniță), first in Candrea's dictionary of 1926; it is borrowed from Serbo-Croatian ljaga.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 590
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
4. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. ligă
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, 1364
6. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 746
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 35
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 364
11. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 757