ofertă

Forms

ofertă f (plural oferte)^[1] MDA2 records an obsolete neuter variant ofert.^[2] Costinescu spelled it offertă in 1870, after Latin.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian offerta or German Offerte in DEX,^[4] while Wiktionary gives the Italian word alone^[1] and Marcu and Maneca add French offerte.^[5][6] MDA2 names the French and German words.^[2] Scriban explains the Italian noun as the feminine of the participle offerto.^[7] The Italian word, recorded from the early 14th century, is the noun use of the feminine participle of offerire, an old variant of offrire,^[8] which goes back to Latin offerō (“to offer”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to 1857, in G. A. Polizu's Romanian–German vocabulary, with the sense of a proposal to sell, buy or hire.^[2] In 1870 Costinescu explains it as a proposal or the offer of a present or service, and also as the sealed tenders with the price offered at an auction.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The commercial sense, a proposal to buy or sell goods, to take or give a post, or to join an undertaking, extended to the written document that makes it.^[4][2] In economics the word names the goods available for sale at a given time and price, the supply set against demand: CADE already speaks of the law of cererea și oferta “supply and demand”.^[4][9]

Timeline

• 1857 – in Polizu's Romanian–German vocabulary, the first record.^[2]
• 1870 – offertă, a proposal and a sealed tender, in Costinescu.^[3]
• 1931 – the economic sense in CADE.^[9]
• 20th century – the derivatives ofertant “bidder” and oferta “to make an offer” in Sadoveanu and Călinescu.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An offer: a proposal made to someone to buy or sell goods, to take up a post, to join an undertaking or to provide a service, and the document that makes it.^[4][2][1]
2. (economics) supply: the quantity of a good or factor of production available for sale in a given period and at a given price.^[4]

Word family

• ofertant
• oferta

Related words

• oferi

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 2, 198
3. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 199
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 736
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. ofertă
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. ofertă
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 893
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ofertă
10. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ofertant