metal

Forms

metal n (plural metale)^[1] Cantemir has the Greek form metalon: „Metalon... orice materie vârtoasă iasă din pământ, precum iaste aurul, argintul, arama, cusitoriul” “metalon: any hard matter that comes out of the ground, such as gold, silver, copper, tin”.^[2] Amfilohie has the Italian form metalo: „Arama esti un metalo” “copper is a metal”.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French métal and at the same time borrowed from German Metall, and in older writers borrowed from Latin metallum.^[3][2][4][1] MDA2 also counts Italian metallo and Modern Greek μέταλλον (métallon), the sources of the old variants metalo and metalon.^[4][2] Tiktin derives it from Latin, partly through Greek.^[5] Gabinschi calls it an international word that reached the European languages through Latin.^[6]

The Latin noun, “mine, quarry” and then “metal”, is from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon, “mine, quarry”), which took the sense “mineral, metal” only late.^[7][8] Its origin is uncertain.^[9] Beekes takes it as a back-formation from μεταλλεύω (metalleúō, “to work in the mines”), possibly Pre-Greek.^[8] The grammarians derived it from μεταλλάω (metalláō, “to search, inquire”), a link whose meaning Frisk finds tenuous.^[1] Gabinschi groups it with medalie, from the same Latin word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dimitrie Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică of 1705, in the Greek form metalon, glossed as any hard matter dug from the earth, such as gold, silver, copper and tin; the same work also has metal.^[5][4][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word was a learned term with several shapes: Greek metalon in Cantemir, Italian metalo in Amfilohie, and the plural metaluri glossed with the Turkish loan mademuri “ores” in a geography.^[2] A document of 1834 orders a survey of the metals of the principality's mountains.^[2] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 has metalu with the Italian form beside it.^[10]

The modern sense is the chemical one, an element that is lustrous and conducts heat and electricity, and by extension an alloy;^[2][3] Poni's chemistry describes metals as opaque substances with a peculiar lustre.^[2][3] Phrases name kinds of metal (metal prețios, metal nobil, metal rar), and a figurative sense is “money”; in popular speech the plural can mean any chemical substance.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1705 – metalon and metal in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică, the first record.^[5][2]
• 1825 – metalu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[10]
• 1829 – the plural metaluri and de metal “made of metal” in the press.^[2]
• 1834 – a document on surveying the metals of the principality.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A metal: any chemical element with a characteristic lustre, a good conductor of heat and electricity, usually solid; by extension an alloy: metal prețios “precious metal” (gold, platinum, silver).^[3][4][1]
2. (figurative) Money, coin.^[3][4]
3. (popular, in the plural) A chemical substance.^[3][4]
4. A piece or part made of metal.^[4]

Related words

• metalic
• metalurgie
• medalie
• Latin metallum

Usage notes

The plural is metale;^[3][2] metaluri is rare today but common in older texts.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. metal
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 644
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, 1496
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. metal
6. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 128
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 618
10. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 389