puzzle

Forms

puzzle n (plural puzzle-uri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English puzzle, an unadapted anglicism kept in its English spelling.^[2][3][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words quotes it from the Bucharest press of April 1972, for a 3,000-piece puzzle at the Nuremberg toy fair, glossed as a patience game.^[5] MDA2's first record is the third edition of the dictionary of neologisms, 1978.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the game of putting cut-out pieces together into a picture.^[2][5] From the late 1970s film critics used it for a story pieced together from fragments, and a figurative sense "a mixture of unlike elements" followed.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1972 – first record, in the Bucharest press.^[5]
• 1978 – in the third edition of the dictionary of neologisms.^[3]
• 2000 – MDN records the figurative sense “mixture of unlike elements”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A jigsaw puzzle: a game of skill in which cut-out pieces are fitted together to rebuild a picture or an object.^[4][3][1]
2. (figurative) A mixture of unlike elements.^[6][5]

Usage notes

The word is said as in English: the DEX gives pázăl, the dictionaries of neologisms pazl.^[4][2] The plural is puzzle-uri.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. puzzle
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 612
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 903
5. ^ a b c d e Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. puzzle
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. puzzle