portofel

Forms

portofel n (plural portofele)^[1] Older variants include portofei and portofeu, both used by Kogălniceanu: „Lui Alecu trimăt un portofeul” “to Alecu I am sending a portofel”, “that is, a case in which all the days of the year are divided by months”.^[2][3] Besides the plural portofele, MDA2 records an old regional plural portofeluri.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Russian портфель (portfelʹ) or directly borrowed from French portefeuille: DEX and DILF give both sources, the Marcu–Maneca dictionary compares both, and Wiktionary takes it from Russian, which had it from French.^[5][6][7][1] Tiktin, MDA2 and the DLR derive it from French alone.^[8][4][2] Scriban started from Russian.^[9] The French word is a compound of porte (“carries”) and feuille (“sheet, paper”).^[1]

Graur discussed the word in 1963.^[10] He judged the Russian source closer to the truth than the French one of the CADE, but noted that Bulgarian has the same form, портофел (portofel), which could hardly have arisen independently in two neighbouring languages.^[10] He found the key to the second ⟨o⟩ in Modern Greek πορτοφόλι (portofóli), itself from Italian portafoglio.^[10] portofoliu keeps the original sense of the French word, while the word for the wallet usually holds money.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1793.^[8] MDA2 and the DLR cite a newspaper of 1830 listing an Ottoman ambassador's gifts, among them portofeluri of Turkish morocco leather, here in the sense “document case, satchel”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a case or satchel for papers of value, manuscripts and documents, which is now obsolete.^[4][2] From that came the modern sense: a flat case of leather or plastic with several compartments, carried in a pocket, for banknotes and papers.^[4][5] Rare and regional uses include a purse for coins and a tobacco pouch.^[4] In an isolated old use, the form portăfeil meant a minister.^[4]

Timeline

• 1793 – first record.^[8]
• 1830 – portofeluri “document cases” in a newspaper report.^[4][2]
• 19th century – the variants portofei and portofeu in Kogălniceanu.^[3]
• 1939 – Scriban defines it as a flat purse for carrying money in the pocket.^[9]
• 1963 – Graur's note on its Russian, Bulgarian and Greek parallels.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. wallet: a flat case of leather, plastic etc. with several inner compartments, for money and papers.^[5][4][1]
2. (obsolete) A case or satchel for valuable papers, manuscripts and documents.^[4][2]
3. (rare) A purse for coins.^[4]
4. (regional) A tobacco pouch.^[4]

Related words

• portofoliu
• Russian портфель (portfelʹ)
• French portefeuille

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. portofel
3. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 508
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 476
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 852
6. ^ 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. portofel
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. portofel
8. ^ 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. portofel
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1020
10. ^ a b c d e Graur, Alexandru (1963), Etimologii romînești, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. portofel