pierdere

Forms

pierdere f (plural pierderi)^[1] Old texts write piardere, with the diphthong of the old verb form piarde: „Piarderea păcatelor meale” “the remission of my sins”, in a liturgy book of 1702.^[2]

Etymology

It is the long infinitive of pierde “to lose”, used as a noun, formed from Romanian pierde + -re.^[3][2][4][1] The verb is from Latin perdō (“to destroy, to lose”).^[5][3] Gabinschi instead takes the noun itself as the Latin infinitive used as a noun, and pairs it with pierzare as a set of etymological doublets.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Coresi's Praxiu of 1563.^[2] MDA2 cites Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581, where someone escapes the fire „și de toată piarderea” “and all the destruction” of the condemned people of Sodom: in the old texts the word meant ruin and death more often than loss.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The oldest senses, chiefly in church language, are killing, destruction and death, then damnation, the loss of eternal life.^[3][7] Weakened, the word meant misfortune or danger.^[3] Tiktin also records ruin and the cancelling of something abstract, as in the liturgy's “remission of sins”, and MDA2 the loss of a possession or a right.^[2][3] Cantemir wrote of pierdere de vreme “waste of time”, a phrase still in use.^[2][3]

Modern Romanian adds an economic sense, a deficit, with the phrase în pierdere “at a loss”, a technical sense, the energy or material lost in a system, and the plural pierderi “casualties”.^[4][8] In everyday speech it also means a defeat in a fight or a game, and missing a train or a chance.^[4][3] The press phrase pierdere colaterală “collateral damage” was recorded in 2001, after the English one.^[9]

Timeline

• 1563 – in Coresi's Praxiu, the first record.^[2]
• 1581 – piarderea “destruction” in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[3][7]
• 1702 – piarderea păcatelor “the remission of sins” in a liturgy book.^[2]
• 2001 – pierderi colaterale “collateral damage” in the press.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. loss: the act of losing something or of getting lost.^[4][1]
2. A financial loss, the amount by which costs exceed income;^[4][10] în pierdere “at a loss”.^[4][10]
3. (in the plural) Casualties, lives lost.^[4][1]
4. (technology) The part of the energy or material put into a system that is not used usefully.^[4]
5. A defeat in a fight, a game or a contest.^[4][1]

Related words

• pierzare
• pierzanie

Usage notes

Older or popular senses include the loss of a loved one, pierdere de sânge “loss of blood” and pierdere de vreme “waste of time”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pierdere
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 375
4. ^ 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. 816
5. ^ 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. pierde
6. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 140
7. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pierdere
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 416
9. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. pierdere
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pierdere