piramidă

Forms

piramidă f (plural piramide)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek πυραμίς (piramís), with Latin pȳramis and French pyramide as further sources, in the order MDA2 and Tiktin give them.^[2][3][4] Ciorănescu takes it from Greek of the 18th century, citing Gáldi, and then from French.^[5] Wiktionary names only French and Latin.^[1]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πυραμίς (puramís), probably of foreign origin.^[6][7] Beekes notes that the Greek word also named a cake of roasted wheat, made from πυρός (purós, “wheat”), and that Diels thought the pyramids were named after the cake, although the cake's shape is unknown.^[8] Others have proposed an Egyptian source.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The preface of the Bucharest Bible of 1688 speaks of the pyramids of Egypt: „Ceale de la Memfes piramide” “the pyramids of Memphis”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was the Egyptian royal tomb, and the geometric solid followed with the schoolbooks of the 19th century;^[3][9] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defines it as a monument with four triangular faces meeting at the top.^[3][9] From the shape came heaps of objects, stacked rifles (piramidă de arme), a gymnastic figure and, figuratively, a social hierarchy, as in a ajunge în vârful piramidei “to reach the top”.^[10][2] In Moldova the word also names a shelter in a vineyard or melon field.^[11] An old plural piramizi is recorded beside piramide.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1688 – piramide in the preface of the Bucharest Bible, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary of new words.^[9]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's dictionary, glossed with German Pyramide.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geometry) A polyhedron with a polygonal base and triangular faces that meet at a common vertex.^[10][2][1]
2. A huge stone funerary monument of that shape built for the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, and by extension any monumental building of that shape.^[10][2]
3. A heap of objects arranged in the shape of a pyramid.^[10]
4. (dated, military) piramidă de arme: a group of rifles stood with their butts on the ground, leaning against each other at the muzzles.^[10]
5. A gymnastic figure of several people in rows standing one on top of another, each narrower than the last.^[10][14]
6. (figurative) A hierarchy: a ajunge în vârful piramidei, to reach the highest rank.^[2]

Word family

• piramidal

Related words

• piramidon
• Latin pyramis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 387
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. piramidă
4. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. piramidă
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. piramidă
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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, p. s.v. piramidă
10. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic
11. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 223
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 981
13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 477
14. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România