platformă

Forms

platformă f (plural platforme)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French plate-forme.^[2][3][1][4] The French word, earlier Middle French plateforme, is a compound of plate (“flat”) and forme (“form”).^[1][5] Graur places it in the family of Latin platus (“flat”), a loan from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), beside Romanian plat, piață and platou.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1860, in a text saying that the guard, once out on the platform, must keep good order and silence.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a flat raised surface where people could stand or work: the dictionaries of Șăineanu and Scriban describe the flat roof of a building, the platform of a railway carriage and the mound on which a battery of guns stood.^[6][7] Scriban already records the figurative political sense, the ideas and plans on which a party or politician asks for votes.^[7] In the 20th century the word spread to geology, geography and technology: the old rigid parts of the Earth's crust, the continental shelf (platformă continentală), launch pads for rockets and offshore drilling rigs.^[4][2][3] Recent press usage adds platformă industrială, the site of a group of factories, and the thick sole of women's shoes.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1860 – the first record, a platform where a guard stands.^[3][4]
• 1939 – Scriban records the political sense.^[7]
• 1965 – the compound platformă-aerodrom, a platform for take-offs and landings, in the press.^[8]
• 1975 – a platformă as the site of new industrial buildings.^[8]
• 2007 – platformă for the thick sole of women's shoes.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The flat horizontal surface of a vehicle or a hoist on which goods or animals are loaded; by extension, an open railway wagon or truck.^[2][3]
2. platformă de lansare: a launch pad from which rockets take off vertically;^[2][3] platformă de foraj marin: an offshore drilling platform.^[2][3]
3. The part of a tram, bus or railway carriage by the doors, where passengers get on and off.^[2][10]
4. A flat element of a building; a landing of a staircase.^[2]
5. A flat structure or piece of ground prepared for technical work, machinery or storage.^[2][3]
6. A piece of land, usually flat, lying at some height; a plateau.^[2][3]
7. (sports) A rigid horizontal board, 2–6 metres long, from which divers jump into the water.^[2]
8. (geology) A wide, rigid region of the Earth's crust affected only by slow vertical movements.^[2][3]
9. (figurative) The programme of a political party, group or politician.^[2][9]
10. The subject, problems or point of view of a discussion.^[2]

Related words

• plat
• platou
• formă
• French plate-forme

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 829
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, 408
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. platformă
5. ^ a b Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 75
6. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 486
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 993
8. ^ a b c d Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. platformă
9. ^ a b Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 443
10. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. platformă