oral

Forms

oral m or n (feminine singular orală, masculine plural orali, feminine/neuter plural orale)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French oral, a learned word of the 19th century.^[2][3][4][1] Marcu and Maneca's dictionary of neologisms names Italian orale beside the French word.^[5]

The French word goes back to Latin ōs (“mouth”): the DHLF describes it as a learned formation of 1610 on this noun with the suffix -al, and Wiktionary as a borrowing of ōrālis.^[6][1] Graur lists it among the Romanian descendants of the Latin noun, beside the inherited ușă and the learned orificiu.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 defines oral as passed on from mouth to mouth, verbally, with the examples tradiție and lege orală “oral tradition, oral law”.^[8] MDA2's first record, without a year, is from Alecu Russo, in the phrase tradiția orală “the oral tradition”.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “passed on by word of mouth, not written”, as in oral tradition and oral law.^[8][10] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 adds licitație orală, an auction held aloud rather than with sealed bids.^[10] Șăineanu and CADE record the oral examination, examen oral, set against the written one, and CADE also uses the noun oral for the examination itself.^[11][12] The anatomical sense “of the mouth”, as in cavitatea orală “the oral cavity”, is in CADE as well.^[12] Later dictionaries add the phonetic sense, sounds made with the air passing through the mouth only, the medical one, taken by mouth, and the stil oral of written prose that imitates speech.^[2][3][4]

Timeline

• 1848 – “passed on by word of mouth” in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1870 – tradițiune orală and licitație orală in Costinescu's dictionary.^[10]
• 1929 – examen oral “oral examination” in Șăineanu's dictionary.^[11]
• 1931 – the anatomical sense and the noun oral “oral examination” in CADE.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy) Of or relating to the mouth, bucal.^[2][3] Sunet oral: a sound made with the air passing through the mouth only.^[2][3]
2. Taken by mouth: un tratament oral.^[2][13]
3. Passed on verbally, by word of mouth: literatura orală, creația populară orală.^[2][13]
4. Characteristic of speech, as opposed to the written language.^[2][14]
5. Stil oral: a written style that imitates the naturalness of speech.^[2][3]

Noun

1. An oral examination, held as questions and answers spoken aloud: A luat nota zece la oral.^[2][15]

Related words

• orificiu
• oracol
• orator
• Latin ōs

Usage notes

MDA2 has a second headword oral, an obsolete variant of orar “hourly, of the hours”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 747
3. ^ 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, 219
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. oral
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. oral
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 69
8. ^ a b c 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. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 276
10. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 211
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 446
12. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. oral
13. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. oral
14. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. 1
15. ^ Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 401