perimetru

Forms

perimetru n (plural perimetre)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek περίμετρος (perímetros), and the dictionaries name German Perimeter and French périmètre beside the Greek word as sources.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary and NODEX give only the French word.^[1][6]

The French word was borrowed in 1538, through Latin, from Ancient Greek περίμετρος (perímetros, “circumference”), the feminine of an adjective “measuring all round” used as a noun with γραμμή (grammḗ, “line”) understood; the adjective is formed from περί (perí, “around”) and μέτρον (métron, “measure”).^[7][8] Medieval Greek also had Byzantine Greek περίμετρον (perímetron) for the line round a piece of land.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 date the first record to about 1800, in a Romanian version of Wolff's elements of geometry and trigonometry, in the geometric sense.^[3][2][5] Early geometry books gloss it with native words such as împrejurime “surroundings” and încongiurare “circuit”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the sum of a polygon's sides the word came to mean any closed line round an area, then the area itself and the boundary of a town, a zone or a plot: perimetrul orașului “the town's boundary”.^[4][8] Figuratively it is a sphere or field of activity.^[2][10] Hygiene and geology use perimetru de protecție for the zone kept clear round a water source or another protected site.^[2][5] In medicine it is also the instrument that measures the field of vision, a sense French had by 1914.^[10][7]

Timeline

• c. 1800 – perimetru in the Romanian version of Wolff's geometry, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1862 – perimetru “perimeter, contour” in Pontbriant, with a plural in -e.^[11]
• 1870 – a geometry term in Costinescu, who calls the perimeter of a circle periferie.^[12]
• 1871–1876 – a masculine noun in Laurian and Massim.^[13]
• 1939 – the boundary of a town in Scriban.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics) The sum of the lengths of the sides of a polygon; the closed line that bounds a surface, a perimeter.^[4][1]
2. The area inside such a line; the boundary of the territory of a town, a zone or a plot.^[4][2]
3. (figurative) A sphere or field.^[2][10]
4. (medicine) An instrument for measuring the field of vision.^[10][2]

Related words

• metru

Usage notes

The 19th-century dictionaries treat it as masculine; today it is neuter, with the plural perimetre.^[13][12][4] MDA2 records an old plural perimetri and regional forms beginning peli-.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 347
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. perimetru
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 803
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. perimetru
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. perimetru
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. périmètre
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 966
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr, p. s.v. περίμετρον
10. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. perimetru
11. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 540
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 278
13. ^ a b Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. perimetru