rol

Forms

rol n (plural roluri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French rôle, a 19th-century neologism.^[2][3][4][1] MDA2, Tiktin, DN and NODEX give German Rolle as a second source.^[5][6][7][8] The French word was first Old French rolle about 1180 and role in the 13th century; it comes from Medieval Latin rotulus (“roll, scroll”), a diminutive of Latin rota (“wheel”).^[9] In Medieval Latin it named a rolled sheet bearing a text, and in the language of administration and law a register or list.^[9] The German word is a borrowing from Old French as well;^[10] Kluge traces the actor's sense to the custom, from the 16th century, of writing each player's part on a roll.^[10]

The verb a înrola “to enlist” was formed after French enrôler.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1814.^[6] MDA2's first record is later, in Heliade's translation of Byron's Don Juan of 1847.^[5] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 already gives both the theatre sense, the part an actor has to speak, and the figurative sense of the way someone behaves or stands in an affair.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word came into Romanian with the two branches of senses it had in French: a written list or register, and the part of an actor.^[2][12] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 lists the court's list of cases, the register of taxpayers, the part an actor learns and plays, and the character he plays.^[12] The figurative sense of a function or task, the part someone plays in an action, followed from the theatre sense.^[13][14] Phrases built on it are common: a juca un rol “to play a part”, also “to matter”.^[13][8]

The list senses now belong to law and administration: the cause list of a court, the tax register of each taxpayer and the crew list of a ship.^[3][15]

Timeline

• 1814 – the first record of the word.^[6]
• 1847 – in Heliade's translation of Byron's Don Juan.^[5]
• 1848 – Negulici gives the actor's part and the figurative sense of a person's conduct in an affair.^[11]
• 1870 – Costinescu lists the senses “cause list”, “register of taxpayers”, “actor's part” and “character played”.^[12]
• 1899 – a separate word rol “timber chute”, from German, appears in Viciu's Transylvanian glossary.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A role or part: what an actor performs in a play or a singer in an opera; also the character played: A jucat rolul regelui.^[3][5][1]
2. A function or task that falls to someone in an action; a mission.^[3][5]
3. (law) The cause list of a court: the cases to be judged on a given day;^[7] repunere pe rol “setting a new hearing date for a suspended case”, scoatere de pe rol “striking a case off the list”.^[3]
4. The register in which the tax authorities record the taxes of each taxpayer;^[7] rol fiscal.^[3][7]
5. (nautical) The official crew list of a ship, one of the papers without which it may not sail.^[3][15]

Word family

• înrola

Related words

• French rôle

Usage notes

The plural is roluri; older texts also have role and a feminine rolă or roală.^[6][5] A separate noun rol, from German Rolle, names a timber chute or, in mining, a funnel-shaped chute for loading coal; it is regional and technical.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. rol
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 960
4. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. rol
5. ^ 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, 721
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. rol
7. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. rol
8. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. rol
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 772
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. rol
12. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 448
13. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1135
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 769
15. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. rol