rula

Forms

rula (third-person singular present rulează, past participle rulat) 1st conjugation^[1] A rare variant rola occurs in a text of 1859 quoted by the DLR: „tunurile, fiind rotunde, au început a rola” “the cannons, being round, began to roll”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French rouler (“to roll”), as Ciorănescu, the DLR, MDA2 and DEX agree.^{[4][2][3][5][1]} Wiktionary takes the French verb from Old French roeler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre and Latin rotula.^[6] The DHLF gives a slightly different account: Old French rëoller (c. 1160) was formed on roele “small wheel”, and only partly confused with the descendants of Vulgar Latin *rotulāre.^[7]

Ciorănescu lists beside it a group of other French loans of the same family: ruladă from roulade, ruletă from roulette and rulou from rouleau, while rulant “rolling” is a Romanian derivative.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record is the variant rola in an 1859 text quoted by the DLR, used of cannons that rolled aside at the slightest movement.^[2] The form rula is first recorded by MDA2 in Alexi's Romanian–German dictionary of 1906.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb took over the main senses of French rouler: moving a body by rolling it, the movement of vehicles on wheels or rollers, and winding something into a roll.^[2][3] The cinema sense, a film being shown, is quoted in the DLR from Camil Petrescu.^[2][8] Finance added the sense of putting money or goods into circulation, and textile work the sense of smoothing a fabric by pressing it with a roller.^[2][3]

The neologism dictionaries record further technical senses: tailors rounding the lapel of a coat, a cyclist or runner moving at an easy, even pace, an aircraft taxiing, and the distance a motor vehicle covers.^[9][10] DEX 2009 adds the computing sense of running a program.^[5]

Timeline

• 1859 – the variant rola, of cannons rolling.^[2]
• 1906 – rula in Alexi's Romanian–German dictionary.^[3]
• 1955–1957 – the DLRLC gives the senses “roll up”, “be shown (of a film)”, “circulate (money)” and “roll”.^[8]
• 2009 – DEX adds the computing sense “run a program”.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wind a fabric by hand or by machine onto a wooden or metal roller, making a roll; more generally, to roll something up: Croitorul a rulat stofa pe sul.^[5][3]
2. To show a film on a screen;^[5][2] (intransitive) of a film, to be showing: Ce film rulează la cinema?^[5][2]
3. To put money or goods into circulation by investing them in business.^[5][3]
4. To move a body by rolling it or sliding it along a fixed track;^[5][2] (intransitive) of vehicles, to move on wheels or rollers.^[5][2]
5. To smooth or flatten a surface by pressing it with a rolling object.^[5][3]
6. (computing) To run a program on a computer.^[5]

Word family

• rulant

Related words

• ruladă
• ruletă
• rulou
• French rouler

Usage notes

Old Moldavian texts have an unrelated verb rula “to chatter, talk idly”, first in Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686); the DLR derives it from Serbo-Croatian ruljati (“to shout”), and Tiktin compares the same word.^{[2][3][11][12]} A regional feminine noun rulă, the oven of a kitchen stove, is a separate word again.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rula
3. ^ 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, 735
4. ^ a b 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. rula
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 966
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. rouler
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 786
9. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. rula
10. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. rula
11. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. rula
12. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 252
13. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État