reclamă

Forms

reclamă f (plural reclame)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French réclame, with German Reklame as a second source, as DEX 2009, MDA2 and Wiktionary give it.^[2][3][1] MDN names only the French word.^[4] That noun is from French réclamer (“to call back, to claim”), from Latin reclāmō (“to cry out against”).^[5][6] In French printing it first named the catchword at the foot of a page that repeats the first word of the next, then a short notice in a newspaper drawing attention to a book or a product;^[6][5] German took it in the middle of the 19th century.^[6][5] Scriban thought the advertising sense came from the American use of English reclaim “to attract attention”, an idea of his own.^[7] The verb reclama “to claim, to complain” has its own source in the French verb.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 has reclamă in the printer's sense, a catchword or note put on a proof.^[9] Barcianu in 1886 defines it as a recommending article, paid praise in a journal.^[10] MDA2's first record is in George Barițiu's history of Transylvania, of 1889.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the French one: from the printer's catchword to the paid notice in a newspaper, then to any spreading of praise to make someone or something known.^[9][10][6] Șăineanu in 1929 still defined it as a short newspaper article praising a book or goods.^[11] In the 20th century it came to mean commercial advertising in general, by print, radio, cinema and television, and the poster, panel or advertisement itself.^[2][3] An old neuter reclam, plural reclamuri, did not last.^[3]

Timeline

• 1870 – reclamă, a printer's catchword, in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1886 – reclamă “recommending article, paid praise” in Barcianu.^[10]
• 1889 – reclamă in Barițiu's history of Transylvania.^[3]
• 1929 – Șăineanu: a short article in a newspaper praising a book or goods.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. advertising: commercial activity that seeks to raise public interest in goods, books, shows or services through print, radio, television or cinema; also the spreading of praise to make someone popular.^[2][3][1]
2. An advertisement: an article, poster, panel or leaflet that advertises something; a commercial on radio or television.^[2][1]

Related words

• reclama
• reclamație
• German Reklame

Usage notes

A face reclamă means “to advertise”: Firma își face reclamă la radio.^[3][2] The same spelling is also a past form, “he or she claimed”, of the verb reclama.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 929
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 669
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. reclamă
5. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
6. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1106
8. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. reclama
9. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 406
10. ^ a b c Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 532
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 539