probă

Forms

probă f (plural probe)^[1] Moldavian texts have prubă: „Cârtița să-ți deie pruba aratului în câmpie” “let the mole give you the model of ploughing in the field” (Conachi).^[2] MDA2 also lists the regional variants provă and prublă.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin proba (“test, proof”), which Ciorănescu sees coming through Polish próba, Hungarian próba and German Probe.^[4] Wiktionary gives the same Late Latin source, partly through Polish, Hungarian and German.^[1] MDA2 adds Italian prova and French preuve, and DEX takes it from Latin with senses modelled on the French word.^[3][5] Scriban derived it from Russian проба (proba).^[6]

The Hungarian word is recorded from 1577, first as “trial”.^[7] The Late Latin word is a back-formation from probō (“to test, prove”), and the source of the German word in the 15th century.^[8][9] The Latin verb is formed on probus (“good, fit”).^[10][1] Aromanian has provă, which Papahagi and Ciorănescu take from Italian, comparing Modern Greek πρόβα (próva).^[11][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1670, in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[2] MDA2's first record is Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1704).^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th and 19th centuries probă and prubă meant a “sample” of goods and a “model, example”, as in Conachi's verse.^[2] Its modern senses of “proof”, “test” and “sample” owe much to French preuve and épreuve.^[5][3] A dated Transylvanian sense is “rehearsal”, also known in Aromanian and in Greek πρόβα (próva).^[1][12] Later uses include an examination paper, an event in a sports competition, and a medical test.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – the first record, in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[2]
• 1704 – in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[3]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda gives “trial, experiment” and “assay crucible”.^[13]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses “sample” and “proof”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. proof, evidence: confirmation of a truth or fact;^[1] probă cu martori: proof by witnesses;^[1] a da probe de: to show, give proof of.^[5][3][1]
2. A test or trial to see whether something meets the requirements;^[1] de probă: on trial; a fitting of clothes; a test run of a machine; a part of an examination; an event in a competition.^[5][1]
3. A rehearsal.^[5][1]
4. The check of an arithmetic operation.^[5]
5. A sample or specimen; a medical test;^[1] (photography) a print.^[5][1]
6. An example, a model.^[5]

Word family

• probăi
• contraprobă

Related words

• proba
• probabil
• Aromanian provă

Usage notes

The verb proba was taken separately from Latin probō, and probabil from French probable.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. probă
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 555
4. ^ a b c 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. probă
5. ^ 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. 879
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1056
7. ^ Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
8. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
9. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 884
12. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 216
13. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 551
14. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 360