pagină

Forms

pagină f (plural pagini)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned loan, borrowed from Latin pāgina (“page, column of writing”).^[2][3] DEX 2009 and the neologism dictionaries give several models at once, Latin with Italian pagina and German Pagina, an example of the multiple etymology common among neologisms.^[4][5][6] Wiktionary names Italian and Latin.^[1][5][6][1]

In Latin the word first belonged to the vineyard: it named the frame of poles that held the vines, and then, by a metaphor, a column of writing and a page.^[7] The Latin word belongs to the family of pangō (“to fix, drive in”) and pāgus,^[8][9] from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- (“to fasten, fix”).^[1] Graur groups it with Romanian pact, pace and păgân, which come from the same Latin root.^[10] The Italian word is also a learned borrowing from Latin.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Gheorghe Șincai, in 1783, with the sense “page (of a book)”.^[3] MDA2 dates the word to 1786, in the Sibiu print of the cadastre regulation of Joseph II.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is one side of a leaf of a book, a notebook or a register; from it came the text printed or written on such a side, and a passage or fragment of a larger work.^[4][5] A figurative sense, “an episode, a memorable moment in history or in a life”, is in DEX 2009 and the neologism dictionaries.^[4][11] Scriban already had both the literary sense (“the finest pages of Alecsandri”) and the sense “an epoch, a time of action or suffering”.^[12] Rare senses in MDA2 are the face of a leaf in botany and a piece of writing in general.^[5]

In computing the word took the sense of a web page: Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words quotes pagină de Internet and virtual pages from the press of 2000.^[13] Scriban's dictionary refers to the older word selidă for the same thing.^[12]

Timeline

• 1783 – pagină in Șincai, the first record.^[3]
• 1786 – in the cadastre regulation of Joseph II, printed at Sibiu.^[5]
• 1865 – Pisone glosses pagină with Latin pagina and German Seite.^[14]
• 1870 – Costinescu has the figurative sense “the finest page of one's history”.^[15]
• 2000 – web pages: pagini virtuale in the press.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A page: either side of a leaf of a book, notebook, newspaper or register; by extension the text on it, or a passage of a longer work.^[4][5][1]
2. (figurative) A notable moment or episode in history or in someone's life.^[4][16]
3. (computing) A web page, a document on the Internet.^[13][6]

Word family

• pagina

Related words

• Latin pāgina

Usage notes

The phrase a pune în pagină “to lay out in pages” is a synonym of the verb pagina.^[4][5] Besides the plural pagini, MDA2 and Scriban record a rare plural pagine, and MDA2 an old variant paghină.^[5][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. pagină
3. ^ 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. pagină
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 762
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 245
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. pagină
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. pagina
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. pagina
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 70
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. pagină
12. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 921
13. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. pagină
14. ^ Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 273
15. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 228
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pagină