majoretă

Forms

majoretă f (plural majorete)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French majorette, as Marcu and DEX give it.^[2][3][1] Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words has it borrowed from English majorette instead, comparing the French word.^[4] The French word is itself borrowed from American English, where the word is recorded in 1941, shortened from drum majorette, a feminine of drum major with the suffix -ette;^[5] French has it from 1962.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the sources is a press quotation of 2001 in Dimitrescu's dictionary, about young people dancing beside a troupe of majorettes.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names the girls in uniforms like a drummer's that march at the head of a parade, open a show or cheer a sports team, dancing or juggling to music.^[3] Press quotations from 2003 and 2009 mention a school of majorettes and a university troupe.^[4]

Timeline

• 1941 – American English majorette.^[5]
• 1962 – French majorette.^[5]
• 2001 – Romanian majorete in a press quotation.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A majorette: one of the girls in a uniform like a drummer's who lead a parade, open a show or support a team, dancing or juggling to music.^[3][2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 613
4. ^ a b c d Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
5. ^ a b c d Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard