polonez

Forms

polonez m or n (feminine singular poloneză, masculine plural polonezi, feminine/neuter plural poloneze)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French polonais (“Polish; a Pole”).^[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary also analyses it as Polonia with the suffix -ez.^[1] The French adjective, of the 16th century, is formed on Polonia (“Poland”), from Polonus, a variant of polanus, which comes from Polish Polanin.^[5] The feminine form in the sense of the dance is from French polonaise.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1836, in C. Negruzzi: „se numea Olga și era poloneză” “her name was Olga and she was Polish”.^[4][7] MDA2 and the DLR have the noun from 1848, when the Curierul românesc wrote of Poles condemned to death.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word took the place of older names for the Poles: leah and leșesc, now obsolete, and the regional poleac.^[2][7] Polon remains a synonym.^[3] The feminine poloneză names the Polish language and the dance;^[7][3] Filimon writes that balls in the houses of the great boyars opened with a polonaise.^[7][3] Scriban (1939) also has poloneză for a kind of dress and ghete poloneze for tall women's boots, a fashion of 1915–1917.^[6] Recent senses are the pastry covrig polonez and a kind of sausage.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1836 – poloneză “a Polish woman” in C. Negruzzi.^[4]
• 1848 – polonezilor in the Curierul românesc.^[2][7]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's dictionary, as a synonym of polon.^[9]
• 1939 – the dress and the boots called poloneze in Scriban.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A Pole: a man or woman of the people of Poland or from Poland; the plural names the nation.^[3][2][1]
2. (feminine, poloneză) The Polish language.^[3][2]
3. (feminine, poloneză) The polonaise, a stately dance of Polish origin in moderate 3/4 time; its tune.^[3][2]
4. (masculine) A smoked sausage of beef and pork; colloquially poliș.^[3][8]

Adjective

1. Of Poland or the Poles;^[3][2][1] Polish: muzica poloneză.^[3][2][1]
2. Covrig polonez: a ring-shaped pastry of cozonac dough soaked in syrup and topped with walnuts.^[3][2]

Related words

• polon
• Polonia
• leah
• poleac

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 457
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 846
4. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. polonéz
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1012
7. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. polonez
8. ^ a b Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. polonez
9. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 488