material

Forms

material m or n (feminine singular materială, masculine plural materiali, feminine/neuter plural materiale); noun: material n (plural materiale)^[1] The noun had an older plural materialuri.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French matériel and directly borrowed from Latin māteriālis (“made of matter”) according to DEX and Marcu, who also names German materiell;^[1][3][4][5] MDA2 and the DLR give the same three sources.^[1][3][4][5] Tiktin derives it from New Latin.^[2] Wiktionary adds that it can be read in Romanian as materie with the suffix -al.^[6]

The Latin adjective is formed on māteria (“matter, substance”) with -ālis, and French borrowed it from Latin in 1270.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record, from 1698, is the adjective “material, physical”.^[2] MDA2 dates its first record to before 1824, in a document of the Uricariul collection.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Romanian had native-looking adjectives for the same idea, materialnic, materialicesc and materiesc, the last in Cantemir.^[2][4] The noun, “raw material, matter from which things are made”, came with the modern vocabulary, then took the senses “fabric” and “the documents and data for a work”.^[1][2] The adjective gained the economic sense “concerning goods and money”, as in bază materială “material base”.^[1]

Timeline

• 1698 – the adjective, the first record.^[2]
• before 1824 – a record in the Uricariul documents.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of matter; belonging to objective reality, existing outside consciousness; tangible, concrete, physical.^[1][3]
2. Concerning goods, income and wealth; financial.^[1]

Noun

1. material: the raw or semi-finished matter from which goods are made;^[1][6] materiale plastice “plastics”.^[1][6]
2. fabric, cloth: material de rochie “dress fabric”.^[1]
3. The documents and data needed for a literary or scientific work; a written report on a question.^[1][8]

Related words

• materie
• Latin māteriālis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 624
2. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. material
3. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. material
4. ^ 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, 1441
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. material
6. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. material