numerar

Forms

numerar n (uncountable)^[1] An old and popular variant numărar was reshaped after număr “number”.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French numéraire, with Late Latin numerārius as a second source in DEX.^{[3][4][2][5][1]} The French word, first an adjective “relating to number”, was borrowed in 1561 from the Late Latin adjective, which meant “of number” and, as a noun, “calculator, accountant”.^[6] The Latin adjective is formed on numerō (“to count”), from numerus (“number”), the source of număr.^[6][1] Scriban derived the Romanian word from Latin alone.^[7]

The popular variant numărar owes its vowel to that noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's vocabulary of 1848 records it as an adjective in valoare numerară, a value paid in counted money, glossed with the popular peșin “cash down”.^[8][4] The noun “cash” appears in the newspaper Românul in 1857, in a report on the export of cash to America.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, “having legal currency” (of coins), is now obsolete, and the noun “ready money” has replaced it.^[2][4] The French noun had taken this sense in 1720, and the phrase en numéraire “in cash” dates from 1790.^[6] Romanian has the same phrase, în numerar “paid in cash”, with the popular equivalents peșin and bani gheață.^[2][3] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 still gives both uses, the adjective “payable” and the noun “ready money”.^[9] In regional speech the adjective survived in bani numărari “counted money”, with dialect forms such as lumeral.^[2]

Timeline

• 1848 – valoare numerară in Negulici's vocabulary.^[8][4]
• 1857 – the noun in the newspaper Românul.^[2]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[2]
• 1886 – Barcianu: adjective “payable” and noun “ready money”.^[9]
• 1931 – CADE gives the adjective “used for counting” and the noun “cash”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. cash: money in coins or banknotes that can be used directly for payment.^[3][4][1]
2. A sum of money.^[4]
3. în numerar: in ready money, paid on the spot: Chiria se plătește în numerar.^[4][11]

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Of coins: being legal tender.^[4][2]

Related words

• număr
• număra
• peșin

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. numerar
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 725
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. 2, 175
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 880
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 432
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional