podea

Forms

podea f (plural podele or podeli)^[1] The plural is podele, regionally podeli; the older singular is podeală, and a regional pondeală also occurs.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian podeală, a new singular made up from its plural ⟨podele⟩, according to Tiktin and the DLR; the older noun is formed from Romanian podi + -eală, on the verb meaning “to floor with boards”.^[4][5][1] Scriban also derives it from the longer form, and NODEX compares the verb.^[6][7] DEX and MDA2 call the word of unknown origin.^[2][3] Wiktionary adds that German Boden (“floor, ground”) may have influenced it.^[1]

Ciorănescu lists the verb and its noun, with the variant ⟨podea⟩, among the derivatives of pod “platform, bridge”, which is from Old Church Slavonic подъ (podŭ); he takes the verb from Slavonic as well.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to the New Testament of 1648, at Luke 5:19.^[4] MDA2 gives a document of before 1776, printed in the Uricariul, in which a captain is to inspect the bridges and have any broken or displaced board, podea, put right.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word named the boards of bridges and of the plank roads of the towns: a late 18th-century chronicle says that money was paid for boards to lay roads on all the streets.^[5] From one board it came to mean the boarded floor of a room, and then any floor of wood, stone or brick.^[5][2] Old and regional speech also used it for a board ceiling, as in a ridica ochii în podele “to raise one's eyes to the ceiling”.^[4][6][2] Technical language later applied it to working platforms, for instance at an oil well.^[3]

Timeline

• 1648 – the first record, in the New Testament.^[4]
• 1776 – podea “board” of a bridge, in a document.^[3][5]
• late 18th century – podele “boards for paving streets”.^[5]
• 1815 – an order for 3,600 boards, podele.^[5]
• 1823 – the plural podeli.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The floor of a room, made of boards, stone, brick or other material; pardoseală, dușumea; also each board of such a floor.^[2][1]
2. (dated, regional) A board ceiling; each board of a ceiling.^[2][4]
3. (dated) A paving of boards on a street, yard or bridge; each board of it.^[2][5]

Related words

• pod
• podi
• podeală

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 839
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 438
4. ^ 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. podea
5. ^ 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. podea
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1004
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. podea
8. ^ 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. pod