limuzină

Forms

limuzină f (plural limuzine)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French limousine.^[2][3][4][1] The French word is the feminine of limousin (“of the Limousin”), the name of the people and region of Limoges.^[5][6] It first named a long cape of goat hair or coarse wool like that worn by the shepherds of the Limousin, then, from 1902, a closed car.^[5][6] Wartburg explained the second sense by comparing the closed car to a cloak that keeps out the rain; others link it to the car body designed by the Limoges-born engineer Charles Jeantaud.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to Cezar Petrescu's novel Calea Victoriei (1931), where someone drives the whole length of the avenue „într-o superbă limuzină” “in a superb limousine”.^[3][4] The same year CADE lists it as a closed car.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Romanian took only the motoring sense: Scriban (1939) and Șăineanu (1929) describe a car closed on all sides, with side windows, like a coupé.^[5][8] Later dictionaries stress luxury and a fixed roof, and DEX 2009 adds the technical sense of a closed body in which a glass partition separates the driver from the passengers.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1931 – first record, in Cezar Petrescu's Calea Victoriei, and in CADE.^[3][7]
• 1939 – Scriban explains the word from the French cape of the Limousin shepherds.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A luxury car with a fixed roof, closed all round, with side windows and four doors; a limousine.^[2][3]
2. A closed car body in which a glass partition separates the driver's seat from the passengers; by extension, a car with such a body.^[2]

Related words

• French limousine

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 592
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1370
4. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. limuzină
5. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 748
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. limuzină
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 365
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 762