rețea

Forms

rețea f (plural rețele)^[1] A regional form is rățea: „Am primit acum de curând mătăsării de Veneția, tulpanuri, panglice, rățele și horbote din Lipsca” “we have just received Venetian silks, muslins, ribbons, laces and embroidery from Leipzig” (Filimon).^[2][3] MDA2 records the old plural rețeli.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *retella (“little net”), a diminutive of Latin rēte (“net”).^{[5][2][4][6][7][1]} Ciorănescu compares Italian rezza, the Abruzzi dialect form ritedda and French réseau.^[5][1] Pușcariu took the Italian word from rētia, the neuter plural of the Latin noun.^[7] Drăganu thought the word had been crossed with Hungarian rece (“net”);^[5] Ciorănescu thinks the idea unnecessary.^[5] The Hungarian word is itself a loan from the Italian one.^[8][9]

The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain: de Vaan thinks it may be a loanword, possibly from a Semitic source.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary that MDA2 dates to about 1650–1700.^[4][6] Tiktin's first date is about 1730.^[2] The first sense is “net”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From a net of thread or string the word passed to things that look like one: a spider's web, a pattern of veins, a mesh of branches.^[4][6] In the 19th century rețea also meant “lace”, a sense now dated.^[2][11] The fishing and hunting net remains a regional sense;^[2] a folk tale has „un lup prins în rățăle” “a wolf caught in nets”.^[2]

Tiktin records railway and telephone networks.^[2] Șăineanu defines the railways of a country as a rețea in 1929, and Scriban gives rețeaua căilor ferate “the railway network” in 1939.^[12][13] From 1980 the press uses rețea de calculatoare “computer network”.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1650–1700 – the word in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, the first record.^[4][6]
• c. 1730 – a record in a document published by Iorga.^[2]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it “small net”.^[15]
• 1929 – the railway network of a country.^[12]
• 1980 – rețea “computer network”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. netting: an openwork of thread, string or wire with large meshes; by extension, a loose fabric that imitates it;^[11][4][1] (dated) lace.^[11][4][1]
2. An object made of netting, such as a fishing net or a luggage rack.^[11][4]
3. A barbed-wire entanglement in front of trenches or around a plot of land.^[11][1]
4. A network of pipes, galleries, streets or roads;^[11][1][14] rețea de distribuție “distribution network”, rețea de telecomunicații “telecommunications network”; a computer network.^[11][1][14]
5. (physics) A grid of intersecting lines;^[11] rețea de difracție “diffraction grating”.^[11]

Related words

• Latin rēte
• Italian rezza

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. rețea
3. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 737
4. ^ 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, 701
5. ^ a b c d 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. rețea
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rețea
7. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 130
8. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
9. ^ Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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. 950
12. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 547
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1123
14. ^ a b c d Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. rețea
15. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 548