regim

Forms

regim n (plural regimuri)^[1] Besides the usual plural regimuri, a rare plural regime occurs;^[2][3] Tiktin marks it as obsolete.^[2][3] Old variants are regime, regimen and reghimen.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French régime, with Latin regimen (“direction, government”) and Italian regime named beside it.^[2][4][5][1] The DLR derives the old variant ending in ⟨-en⟩ directly from Latin.^[4] Tiktin and the neologism dictionaries give French alone.^[3][6][7]

The French word is a learned borrowing, first in the form ⟨regimen⟩ (about 1265) and then as ⟨régime⟩ (early 14th century), from the Latin noun, which is formed on regō (“to direct, rule”).^[8] Scriban also links it to regent.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1842, with the senses “system of government”, “way of life” and “diet”.^[3] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848, in Cyrillic transitional spelling, gives it as a rule kept in one's way of living for the sake of health.^[10] MDA2 dates the word to 1851, from Stamati's dictionary of technical and difficult words.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The political sense, a system of government, is well established in the mid-19th century: the DLR quotes Russo on the judgment of the “regimul trecut” (the past regime) and Kogălniceanu on the customs of the “regimul parlamentar”.^[4] It also came to mean the time in power of a king or a party.^[4][5]

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 has three senses: a rule of healthy living, a chancery word for administration, and in grammar a complement.^[11] Scriban adds the property arrangement of a marriage, regim dotal “dowry regime”, and the grammatical regim direct and regim indirect.^[9] In the 20th century technical senses were added: the set of conditions under which a machine or system works, and the yearly flow of a river (regim fluvial).^[5][7]

Timeline

• 1842 – first record, in the senses “system of government”, “way of life”, “diet”.^[3]
• 1848 – Negulici: a rule of life kept for health.^[10]
• 1851 – Stamati's dictionary of technical words.^[2]
• 1870 – Costinescu: also administration and a grammatical complement.^[11]
• 1939 – Scriban: regim dotal, the property regime of a marriage.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A regime: the system by which the economic, political and social life of a state is organized and run; a form of government: regim parlamentar “parliamentary system”.^[5][2]
2. The time in power of a king or a political party.^[5][2]
3. A set of rules governing the work or life of an institution or a firm; an agreement that sets out certain rights and duties.^[5]
4. A way of life; the conditions of living or working in a given place.^[5]
5. A diet: the rules a person, usually a sick one, must keep in eating and living: regim alimentar “diet”.^[5][6]
6. (technology) The set of external conditions that determine how a technical system works over a period of time.^[5][6]
7. (grammar) The relation between two words of which one depends on the other.^[12][6]

Related words

• regent
• French régime
• Latin regimen

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 680
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. regim
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. regim
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. 936
6. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. regim
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. regim
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1112
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. regim
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 416
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. regim