nord

Forms

nord n (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French nord, a neologism for which the dictionaries name several sources.^[2][3][1] DEX and Wiktionary add German Nord, and Tiktin, MDA2 and the DLR give Italian nord beside the German and the French word.^{[2][1][4][5][6]}

The French word, first recorded in Normandy in 1140, is from Old English norþ, whose Germanic family has no known etymology.^[7][1] The German word goes back to Proto-West Germanic *norþa-;^[8] Kluge connects the Germanic word with words for “below” and “left” in other Indo-European languages.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates it to 1693, in the Foletul novei, Constantin Brâncoveanu's calendar.^[4] MDA2 and the DLR quote Amfilohie Hotiniul's Gramatica fizicii, a manuscript of the late 18th century, which measures „10 gradi de lățime spre nord” “10 degrees of latitude to the north”;^[5][6] MDA2's year 1627 is the manuscript's shelf number.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The newspapers of the 1830s glossed the new word with the native terms: „armia de nord (miazănoapte)” “the army of the north” in 1832, and „cu cît țările se află mai aproape de nord (crivăț)” “the nearer the countries are to the north” in 1833.^[6] By 1848 Negulici defined it as the north, the Arctic pole and the north wind.^[9] The older synonyms miazănoapte, crivăț and septentrion remain beside it.^[5][6] From the cardinal point the word passed to the northern part of a country or a continent and to the peoples living there.^[2]

Timeline

• 1693 – the first record, in the Foletul novei.^[4]
• late 18th century – spre nord in Amfilohie Hotiniul's Gramatica fizicii.^[5][6]
• 1832 – armia de nord “the northern army”, glossed miazănoapte, in a newspaper.^[6]
• 1848 – Negulici lists nord.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. north: the cardinal point in the direction of the Pole Star: Polul Nord “the North Pole”;^[2][5] nord magnetic “magnetic north”.^[2][5]
2. The northern part of the globe, a continent, a country or a town; also the peoples of those regions.^[2][10]

Related words

• nordic

Usage notes

De nord “of the north” serves as an adjective, beside nordic.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 720
3. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. nord
4. ^ 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. nord
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 166
6. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nord
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. nord
8. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 659
9. ^ a b 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, p. s.v. nord
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 876