opera

Forms

opera (third-person singular present operează, past participle operat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French opérer and also borrowed from Latin operor (“to work”), which DEX and MDA2 cite in its late active form.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DEX and the DN also name Italian operare.^[2][6] The French verb was borrowed from the Latin verb about 1360; in Latin the word was a derivative of opus (“work”).^[7] The same Latin family gave Romanian operă and op.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in the works of Ion Heliade-Rădulescu, without a date.^[3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 records it as operare “to work with the hand; to do, produce something” and, intransitively, “to perform an operation, produce an effect”, conjugated operez.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was the general “to carry out, bring about”: Hasdeu wrote that the Poles could barely opera trecerea “carry out the crossing” of the river in five days, and Alecsandri of being called to opera salutare reforme “to carry out salutary reforms”.^[5] Intransitive “to act, take effect” appears in a business document of 1849.^[5] The 1860s and 1870s dictionaries add the surgical sense: Pontbriant glosses it “to operate, amputate”.^[10]

The CADE (1931) lists the military sense “to carry out a manoeuvre”, mathematics “to perform a calculation” and the surgical reflexive “to undergo an operation”.^[11] Modern dictionaries add accounting “to enter in the books” and the slang sense “to commit thefts or burglaries”.^[2][6] These senses follow French opérer, which had the mathematical sense from 1557 and the surgical one from 1559.^[7]

Timeline

• 1848 – operare “to work, produce an effect” in Negulici's dictionary.^[9]
• 1849 – intransitive “to act” in a business document.^[5]
• 1855 – a law that au operat secularizarea “carried out the secularisation”, in the Uricariul.^[5]
• 1862 – Pontbriant gives the surgical sense.^[10]
• 1931 – the CADE lists the military, mathematical and surgical senses.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To carry out, bring about, effect something; in mathematics, to perform a calculation;^[2][3] (intransitive) to work with, make use of something.^[2][3]
2. (transitive) To operate on someone: to perform surgery.^[2][12]
3. (transitive) To enter accounting data in registers or records.^[2]
4. (intransitive) Of troops, to conduct a military operation as part of a strategic plan.^[2][3]
5. (transitive, slang) To commit thefts, burglaries or crimes.^[2][6]

Related words

• operă
• operație
• op

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated with -ez: operez, operează.^[2] It should not be confused with opera, the articled form of the noun operă “work; opera”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 744
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 214
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. opera
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. opera
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. opera
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. opérer
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 67
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. 296
10. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 511
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. opera
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 271