meci

Forms

meci n (plural meciuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English match, and also borrowed from French match, as DEX, DLR, MDN, DILF and Wiktionary give it;^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} DN names English alone.^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} The spelling renders the English pronunciation, and the word was also written as in English, ⟨match⟩.^[3][7][6]

French took the word from English in 1819, first as a term of horse racing; in English it had meant a sporting contest since the 16th century, and it goes back to Old English ġemæcca (“partner, mate”), whose senses ran from “partner” to “equal” and “rival”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and DLR give as the first record a passage of Mihail Sadoveanu, where the word is still spelled match and listed with other American novelties: „Cu toate matchurile, meetingurile, uzinele…” “with all the matches, the meetings, the factories…”.^[3][7] Lovinescu used the same spelling in the figurative sense of a contest, for a readers' vote on the best Romanian novel.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense it was borrowed with, a sporting contest between two people or two teams, and it is used for any sport: football, tennis, boxing, chess.^[2][9][10] The English spelling match was still printed in the 1950s, beside meci.^[3] A figurative sense, “a contest, a dispute”, appears in Lovinescu.^[3]

The press of the 1970s formed compounds on it: meci-derbi “a match between the leading contenders for the title” and meci-cheie “a key match”.^[11]

Timeline

• first half of the 20th century – match in Sadoveanu and in Lovinescu (figurative).^[3][7]
• 1953 – matchul in a match report in Scînteia.^[3]
• 1954 – un meci de tenis in Viața Românească.^[3]
• 1974 – meci-derbi “a match between the leading contenders”.^[11]
• 1975 – meci-cheie “key match”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A match, game: a sporting contest between two people or two teams;^[2][10][1] un meci de box “a boxing match”.^[2][10][1]
2. (figurative) A contest or dispute.^[3]

Usage notes

The plural is meciuri.^[2] Regional Romanian has separately a noun meci “oil lamp, wick” in Transylvania and Maramureș, from Hungarian mécs, recorded from 1825,^[3][7] a verb meci “(of fruit) to rot, get bruised; to beat”, from Serbo-Croatian mečiti,^[3][7] and the Transylvanian phrase ud meci “soaking wet”, of unknown origin.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 635
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. meci
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. meci
5. ^ a b Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. meci
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. meci
7. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1477
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 49
10. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. meci
11. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. meci