pian

Forms

pian n (plural piane)^[1] The variant piano was common in the 19th century: Eminescu heard „notele dulci a unui piano” “the sweet notes of a piano”.^[2] DEX now marks it as rare.^[3] Besides the plural piane, a rare plural pianuri occurs: Caragiale wrote of „statistica tuturor pianurilor” “the statistics of all the pianos”.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Piano, French piano and Italian piano, from pianoforte: DEX, DLR and MDA2 name all three languages, a case of multiple etymology.^[3][2][4][5] MDN names German and Italian, and Wiktionary and Wikționar German and French.^[6][1][7]

The French word is a clipping of piano-forte, from the Italian word, literally “soft-loud”: the instrument was so named because its hammers, unlike the plucked strings of the spinet, let the player play softly or loudly.^[8][9] Its first element is the Italian adverb meaning “softly”, from Latin plānus (“flat, level”), and its second is forte (“loud, strong”), from fortis (“strong”).^[8][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the newspaper Curierul Românesc of 1829, which tells of a man's daughter who played the piano and glosses the word with the older clavir.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 1850s pianos were advertised in the press: in 1857 Românul announced a great store of furniture and pianos from Paris.^[2] Through the 19th century the variant piano stood beside pian in Negruzzi, Bolintineanu, Eminescu and Vlahuță.^[2] Besides the instrument, the word names the art of playing it: a studia pianul is to study the piano.^[3][11] MDA2 records the obsolete synonym clavir and the regional poampă for the instrument.^[4]

Timeline

• 1829 – pianul “the piano” in Curierul Românesc, the first record.^[2][4]
• 1848 – listed in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[2]
• 1857 – the plural piane in an advertisement in Românul.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. piano: a large keyboard instrument whose metal strings are struck by small hammers worked by the keys.^[3][4]
2. The art of playing the piano.^[3][4]

Related words

• pianoforte
• pianină

Usage notes

Pian automat or pian electric is a player piano, which plays tunes recorded on paper rolls, and pian cu manivelă a barrel piano worked by a crank.^[3][4] A separate word pian, French pian, names yaws, a tropical skin disease (MDN's pian²).^[6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pian
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 811
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 365
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. pian
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. pian
7. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
8. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 704
9. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 402