limită

Forms

limită f (plural limite)^[1] MDA2 records the variants limite and a masculine limit.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French limite, at the same time borrowed from Latin līmes (“boundary”): the dictionaries name both models.^[3][2][4][5] The Marcu–Maneca dictionary names Italian limite too.^[6] Gabinschi counts it among the European words of Latin origin and adds German Limit and Russian лимит (limit) as models.^[7]

French borrowed the word from Latin about 1372.^[8] The Latin word meant a path bordering an estate, a balk between fields, and a frontier, and its origin is unknown: it has been compared with līmen (“threshold”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 gives limită as extremity, edge, boundary and border, with French limite.^[9] MDA2's first record is in George Barițiu's history of Transylvania (1889).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first senses were spatial: a border between countries or estates, the end of a surface.^[9][10][2] The CADE also has the figurative sense, the point beyond which something does not go: o ambițiune fără limite “boundless ambition”.^[10][3] Mathematics took the sense of a fixed value that a variable approaches, as French had done in the 18th century.^[3][8] Linguistics added limită silabică “syllable boundary”.^[3] La limită “in an extreme case” translates French à la limite, and the word now forms many compounds: caz-limită, dată-limită, termen-limită.^[11]

Timeline

• 1862 – Pontbriant has the verb limita.^[12]
• 1870 – limită in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1889 – the noun and the verb limita in Barițiu's history of Transylvania.^[2]
• 1931 – CADE gives the sense “border between two estates or countries” and the figurative “bound”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An extreme point, an edge of a surface or an object, its end.^[3]
2. The highest or lowest note a voice or instrument can produce.^[3]
3. (mathematics) A fixed value that the values of a variable quantity approach, a limit.^[3]
4. limită teritorială: the line bounding the territory of a state or region, a border, hotar.^[3]
5. limită silabică: the point where one syllable ends and the next begins.^[3]
6. (figurative) The point up to which someone's abilities or means can reach: Răbdarea mea are o limită. Limită de vârstă is the age limit for holding a public office.^[3]

Word family

• limita

Related words

• French limite
• Latin līmes

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1369
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 592
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. limită
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 747
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. limită
7. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 123
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 37
10. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. limită
11. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. límită
12. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 406