medalie

Forms

medalie f (plural medalii)^[1] The first record has a neuter medal, plural medaluri: „Adunare de multe monede, medaluri și alte măruntaie tot din vechime” “a collection of many coins, medals and other small things, all of them old” (Dinicu Golescu).^[2][3] A plural medaile appears in 1830: „A să dărui la acei mai vrednici [elevi] medaile... de aur” “gold medals are to be given to the most deserving pupils”.^[2] Regional speech has mitalie and midalie: „mi-o dat două mitălii” “he gave me two medals”.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian medaglia, as DER, DEX, DLR, the neologism dictionaries and Wiktionary agree.^{[5][6][2][7][1]} Tiktin adds that it also came indirectly,^[3] and DER and MDA2 compare French médaille.^[5][4] DLR explains the old form medailă by the French word and the neuter medal by Russian медаль (medalʹ).^[2]

Nocentini traces the Italian word to Vulgar Latin *medālia, a neuter plural taken as a feminine singular, dissimilated from *mediālia, the plural of Late Latin mediālis (“that is in the middle; worth half”), from medius (“middle”).^[8] It first named a coin worth half a denarius and took its modern sense in the 15th century, with the art of engraving.^[8] Another view, given by Scriban, Gabinschi and the BER, derives it from Latin metallum (“metal”).^[9][10][11] French borrowed the word from Italian in 1496.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dinicu Golescu's notes of his journey of 1824–1826, printed in 1826: a collection of old coins and medaluri.^[3][2] MDA2 dates it by the year of the journey, 1824.^[4] The form medalie appears in 1829 in Curierul românesc, for a new medal in gold, silver and bronze struck to mark the taking of Adrianople.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the commemorative piece, struck for a person or an event;^[2][13] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defines it so.^[2][13] From 1830 it is also a prize, given to pupils and later at exhibitions and competitions, and then a distinction for merit and bravery worn on the chest.^[2][14]

The expression reversul medaliei “the reverse of the medal”, the other, often unpleasant side of a thing, is found with Russo, who also says întorsătura medaliei.^[2] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 has the phrase a întoarce medalia “to look at a thing from another side”, with the French saying that every medal has its reverse.^[15] The Italian il rovescio della medaglia is recorded from 1550, in a figurative sense from before 1543.^[16]

Timeline

• 1826 – medaluri in Dinicu Golescu's travel notes.^[3][2]
• 1829 – medalie in Curierul românesc.^[2]
• 1830 – medaile as prizes for pupils.^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[13]
• 1870 – Costinescu records a întoarce medalia.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A medal: a metal piece shaped like a coin, with figures and inscriptions, struck in honour of a person or in memory of an event.^[6][4]
2. A medal given as a prize in a competition or as a distinction for merit: medalie de aur “gold medal”.^[6][17]
3. (loosely) A decoration, an order worn as a sign of honour (decorație).^[4]
4. In reversul medaliei “the other side of the coin”: the opposite, often unpleasant side of a thing or situation.^[6][4]

Word family

• medaliat
• medalion

Related words

• Italian medaglia
• French médaille

Usage notes

MDA2 records a regional plural medaliuri.^[4] The verb medalia “to award a medal” is a separate headword.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. medalie
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. medalie
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1478
5. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. medalie
6. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 635
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună
10. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 128
11. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 3, 709
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b c 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
14. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 392
15. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 80
16. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional