satelit

Forms

satelit m (plural sateliți)^[1] An old variant satel occurs in an astronomy book: „Numitele luni, ce se zic și sateli” “the said moons, which are also called satellites”.^[2][3] An old neuter plural satelite is recorded beside sateliți.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French satellite.^{[4][3][2][5][1]} DEX also names Latin satelles (“bodyguard, attendant”).^[4] The French word, first written satelite around 1265, was borrowed from that Latin noun, of obscure origin, perhaps Etruscan.^[6] The astronomical sense was coined by Kepler in Latin in 1611 for the moons of Jupiter and passed into French in 1665.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1790.^[5] DLR's first quotation explains that there are two kinds of wandering stars, the second-rank planets being called moons or satellites.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The astronomical sense came first; the older sense “armed follower of a ruler, henchman” was also taken over, as in Negruzzi's sateliții tiranului “the tyrant's henchmen”.^[2][7] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 gives both.^[8] The figurative sense, a person or state that obeys another blindly, gave stat satelit “satellite state”.^[4][2] The artificial satellite came with space flight, and a gear of a planetary mechanism is a satellite in engineering.^[4][3] School slang uses it for a pupil with a shaven head.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1790 – the first record.^[5]
• 1848 – “armed follower” and “small planet” in Negulici's dictionary.^[8]
• 1870 – satellitu in Costinescu's dictionary.^[10]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's dictionary, glossed German Begleiter.^[11]
• 1951 – adjectival trupele satelite “satellite troops” in Contemporanul.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A satellite: a celestial body that revolves around another; figuratively, a person, group or state that follows another's orders; also adjectival: stat satelit.^[4][3]
2. An artificial satellite, a craft launched into orbit by a rocket: satelit meteorologic, satelit de telecomunicații.^[4][3]
3. (engineering) A gear of a planetary mechanism that turns freely about an axle.^[3][12]
4. (historical) An armed follower who escorted his master; a henchman.^[13][2]

Related words

• Latin satelles
• French satellite

Usage notes

Oraș satelit is a town of secondary importance next to a large city and dependent on it.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. satelit
3. ^ 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, 761
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. 977
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. satelit
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 15
8. ^ 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. satelit
9. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. satelit
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 471
11. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 564
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. satelit
13. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. satelit