lord

Forms

lord m (plural lorzi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English lord, also French lord according to some dictionaries: DEX 2009, MDA2, DN, NODEX, Tiktin and Wiktionary name both languages, while DLR, MDN, Scriban and CADE give only English.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][1]} French itself took the word from English, recorded from 1547, and in the compound lord-chambellan from 1528.^[9] The English word, “master, sovereign, lord” from the 9th century, goes back to Old English hlāford, also hlāfweard, literally “the one who guards the bread”, from weard (“guardian”) and hlāf (“bread, loaf”); it was used to translate Latin dominus, especially in its religious sense.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Molnar's Sprachlehre of 1788.^[5] DLR quotes a text of 1804 that speaks of an English surgeon and a lord on their way to China, and Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada has the plural in a list of royal officials: „de miniștri, de lorzi și pairi” “of ministers, of lords and peers”.^[6] MDA2 gives the Țiganiada as its first record, dated by the 1953 edition.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was used of England: Negulici in 1848 defines it as a title of nobility in England and glosses it “lord, master” with Romanian domn.^[10] Șăineanu and CADE add the Lord Mayor of London, written lord mayor, and Scriban lordu maior.^[11][12][8] CADE also records Camera lorzilor “the House of Lords”, which it compares to the Romanian Senate.^[12] Modern dictionaries add the historical sense of a great landowner of the Middle Ages and the title borne by some high officials of Great Britain.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1788 – Molnar's Sprachlehre, the first record.^[5]
• 1804 – a lord travelling to China, in a text quoted by DLR.^[6]
• 1848 – Negulici: a title of nobility in England.^[10]
• 1929 – Șăineanu records lord mayor for the mayor of London.^[11]
• 1931 – CADE records Camera lorzilor “the House of Lords”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (in England) A lord: in the Middle Ages, a great landowner; today a hereditary title of nobility or one granted by the monarch, and a person who bears it: Era fiul unui lord scoțian.^[2][3]
2. A member of the upper house of the British parliament: Camera Lorzilor “the House of Lords”.^[2][3]
3. Part of the official title of some high officials of Great Britain.^[2][7]

Related words

• lady
• English lord

Usage notes

The plural is lorzi.^[3][1] The feminine counterpart, as Scriban notes, is the English loan lady.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 600
3. ^ 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, 1392
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. lord
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. lord
6. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. lord
7. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. lord
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 757
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. lord
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 370
12. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. lord