regiune

Forms

regiune f (plural regiuni)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French région and Latin regiō (“direction, line, district, region”), a learned loan of the 19th century, and MDA2, DLR and DEX name both sources.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin adds Italian regione to them, and the neologism dictionary of Marcu and Maneca names all three languages, so the word is a case of multiple etymology.^[5][6] Scriban gives the Latin word alone.^[7]

The Latin noun is formed regō (“to direct, rule”) with the suffix -iō, and its first sense was "a direction, a line".^[8][1] French borrowed it from Latin at the end of the 11th century, beside the inherited forms Old French reiun and roion.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1835.^[5] MDA2 and DLR quote Cihac's Istoria naturală of 1837, which speaks of the spread of plants „în deosăbitele reghioane și climate” “in the different regions and climates”, already in the geographical sense.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The early texts show several shapes of the word before regiune settled: reghioană, regioană and regie.^[3] Besides a stretch of land, it could mean a layer of the atmosphere, and in the 19th century, in the plural, the upper ranks of society, a sense DLR marks as obsolete.^[3] Negulici in 1848 and Costinescu in 1870 already list the anatomical sense, a part of the body.^[10][11]

Between 1950 and 1968 regiune was the name of the large administrative units of Romania, each made up of several districts (raioane).^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1835 – first record, as dated by Tiktin.^[5]
• 1837 – the plural reghioane in Cihac's Istoria naturală.^[2][3]
• 1848 – listed by Negulici among the new words, with the anatomical sense.^[10]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary, glossed by French région and contrée.^[12]
• 1950–1968 – the name of an administrative unit of Romania.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large territory with fairly uniform features of relief, climate or economy; a zone or area: o regiune muntoasă “a mountainous region”.^[4][3][13]
2. (historical) One of the 16 administrative units of Romania between 1950 and 1968, made up of districts, communes and villages.^[4]
3. A part of a body or object marked off in broad outline: regiunea cervicală “the cervical region”.^[4][13]
4. (obsolete, in the plural) A social class or stratum.^[3]

Related words

• Latin regiō
• French région

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. regiune
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 937
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. regiune
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1113
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 416
12. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 618
13. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. regiune