poză

Forms

poză f (plural poze)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French pose.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin also names Italian posa.^[5]

The French noun is a back-formation from French poser (“to place, put down”).^[6][1] The verb is the regular outcome of Vulgar Latin pausare (“to stop, rest”), from pausa (“pause”), which Graur and Gabinschi take from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis).^[7][6][8] DHLF derives the Latin verb from παύω (paúō, “to stop”).^[7] The same Latin noun gave Romanian pauză, and its compound repausō gave răposa.^[6][8] German Pose and Russian поза (poza) are borrowings of the same French word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1841.^[5] MDA2's first record is a calendar of 1848, in the sense of a studied attitude: „Mă pusăi într-o poză teatrală” “I struck a theatrical pose”.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a posture or an attitude, often an affected one put on to impress; in the 19th century it was used of figures in art as well.^[9][10] In the same way it came to mean the posture of a model who sits for a painter or a photographer.^[4][3]

From the pose held before the camera it passed to the photograph itself, a popular and familiar sense found in Tiktin's quotations and in Scriban: one would go to the photographer to have one's poză taken.^[5][11] From there it widened to any picture or illustration, as in a book with pictures.^[11][4] In railway engineering poza căii is the way the track is laid.^[3] The verb poza “to pose; to photograph” was borrowed from French poser.^[2]

Timeline

• 1841 – first record.^[5]
• 1848 – poză teatrală “theatrical pose” in a calendar.^[3][9]
• 1929 – Șăineanu's dictionary labels the sense “photograph” as popular.^[12]
• 1980 – poză-robot “identikit picture” in the press.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pose or posture: the attitude, bearing or position someone adopts;^[4][3] a-și lua o poză to put on an affected attitude to impress others.^[4][3]
2. (colloquial) A photograph: Ți-am trimis pozele de la nuntă. “I sent you the wedding photos.”^[4][1]
3. (colloquial) A picture, an illustration or a reproduction.^[4][3]
4. The expressive position a model holds when posing for an artist or photographer.^[4][3]
5. (rare) A way or manner of doing something.^[4]

Word family

• poza

Related words

• pauză
• răposa
• French pose

Usage notes

A(-și) face o poză means to have one's photograph taken, or to take a picture.^[14] The verb form poză “he/she posed” is the simple perfect of poza, not this noun.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. poză
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 495
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 858
5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. poză
6. ^ a b c Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 144
9. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. poză
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 526
11. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1029
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 502
13. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. poză
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. poză