regiment

Forms

regiment n (plural regimente)^[1] Old texts write reghiment or reghement, often with the plural in -uri: Radu Greceanu's chronicle says of the Germans „lăsat-au un reghementu de nemți acolo” “they left a regiment of Germans there”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French régiment together with German Regiment, the two sources that DEX, MDA2, Tiktin and the DLR name.^[4][3][5][2] Ciorănescu gives French as the source of the word and German as the source of the variant reghiment.^[6] Scriban also explains the ⟨ghi⟩ of that variant by the German pronunciation, but derives the word itself from Latin regimentum (“government, rule”), his own view.^[7] Wiktionary names French alone.^[1]

In French the word meant government and direction from the 13th century, borrowed from Late Latin regimentum (“direction, government”).^[8] It took the military sense in 1553 from the German word, recorded with that sense in 1546.^[8] German had borrowed the Latin noun in the 15th century in the sense “rule, administration”.^[9] In the Landsknecht armies of the first half of the 16th century it came to mean a body of troops under the command of a colonel.^[10][9] The Latin noun belongs to regō (“to rule, guide”).^[9]

Ciorănescu lists the derivatives regimentar “regimental”, from French régimentaire, and înregimenta “to enlist, recruit”, from enregimenter.^[6] The old noun reimentar “commander of a regiment” he takes, after Tiktin, from Polish regimentarz.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Foletul novei, the court calendar of Constantin Brâncoveanu.^[3] Tiktin dates the passage to 1701, while MDA2 gives 1693, the first year of the calendar.^[5][3] The calendar notes that the drum was beaten to raise new troops, part of whom set off to join „reghimenturile orînduite” “the appointed regiments”: the sense was the military unit from the start.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Early 18th-century chronicles use the word for the regiments of foreign armies.^[2] Radu Greceanu speaks of a regiment of Germans left behind at Brâncoveni, and a history of Charles XII counts regiments of cavalry.^[2] The older Romanian name for such a unit was polc.^[3][2] Scriban also refers to orta.^[7] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defines the word as a military corps made up of several battalions or squadrons.^[11]

Besides the unit, the word names the soldiers who belong to it, taken together.^[3][12] In the early 20th century it also meant, figuratively, a great crowd.^[7][13] French has had a similar sense “great number” since 1623.^[8]

Timeline

• 1701 – reghimenturi in the Foletul novei, the first record (MDA2 dates it by the calendar's first year, 1693).^[5][3]
• early 18th century – reghementu in Radu Greceanu's chronicle.^[2]
• 1848 – entered in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[11]
• 1929 – Șăineanu records the figurative sense “great crowd”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A regiment: the basic unit of the armed forces, smaller than a brigadă and made up of several battalions, divisions or squadrons.^[4][3]
2. The soldiers of such a unit, taken together: Tot regimentul a ieșit la paradă.^[4][3][12]
3. (figurative, dated) A great crowd, a large number of people.^[7][13]

Word family

• regimentar
• înregimenta

Related words

• polc

Usage notes

The plural is regimente.^[4] An older and regional plural regimenturi is also recorded.^[3][14] MDA2 also lists popular variants such as răgăment, reghemint and righiment.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. regiment
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 680
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 936
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. regiment
6. ^ 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. regiment
7. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1112
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
10. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 754
11. ^ 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. regiment
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 713
13. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 542
14. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. regiment