rezervor

Forms

rezervor n (plural rezervoare)^[1] Older forms were rezervuar, rezervoar and rezervoriu.^[2][3] The first record has rezervuaruri: „Pe acoperemânt sânt două rezervuaruri mari care îndestulează casa cu apă rece” “On the roof there are two large reservoirs which supply the house with cold water”.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French réservoir, a neologism of the 19th century.^{[5][2][3][4][1]} The French word is formed réserver (“to reserve”) with the suffix -oir.^[1] The variants with ⟨-uar⟩ and ⟨-oar⟩ follow the French pronunciation, while ⟨-or⟩ and ⟨-oriu⟩ adapt it to the Romanian suffix.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Gheorghe Cuciuran's description of the hospitals of Germany, England and France, 1842: two large water tanks on the roof.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

From a tank for water the word spread to any container for liquids, gases, or granular and powdered materials, such as the fuel tank of an engine.^[4][5] It also names an artificial lake that collects the water of an area, and in anatomy a vesicle that collects waste fluids.^[2][6] Figurative uses appeared in the 19th century: the sea as a great reservoir of water vapour (1859), the reservoir of memory.^[4] Toc rezervor, literally “reservoir pen”, was the name of the fountain pen.^[5]

Timeline

• 1842 – rezervuaruri, the first record, in Cuciuran.^[2][4]
• 1859 – reservoriu used figuratively of the sea.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tank or container in which liquids, gases, or granular or powdered materials are stored.^[5][2][1]
2. An artificial reservoir: a hollow in the ground made to collect the water of an area for technical uses.^[5][2]
3. (anatomy) A vesicle in which waste fluids collect.^[2][6]

Related words

• rezerva
• rezervă
• French réservoir

Usage notes

Toc rezervor was a name for the fountain pen, now stilou.^[5][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 706
3. ^ 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. rezervór
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rezervor
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 953
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. rezervor