sector

Forms

sector n (plural sectoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French secteur, with Latin sector beside it, as DEX gives it;^[1] MDA2 and the DLR add German Sektor.^[2][3][4] Tiktin names only learned Latin, Wiktionary only French.^[5][1] The Latin noun meant “one who cuts”, an agent noun from secō (“to cut”); in Late Latin it became a geometrical term for the part of a circle cut off between two radii.^[6][7][8] The French word is recorded from 1542.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1818.^[5] MDA2's first record is in Iordache Golescu's dictionary manuscript of about 1832; the DLR quotes these early records for the geometrical sense, the part of a circle between two radii.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word came in as a term of geometry.^[4][3] Costinescu (1870) also gives it for the proportional compass and for an astronomical instrument for measuring a star's distance from the zenith.^[9] Șăineanu (1929) adds the part of a fortification or territory under a particular commander, and Scriban a district of a town.^[10][11] From a part of a surface the sense was extended to the zone of action of a military unit, an administrative division of a large city, and a field of activity, especially of the economy.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1818 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[5]
• c. 1832 – the geometrical sense in Iordache Golescu's dictionary.^[3][4]
• 1870 – an instrument of astronomy and the proportional compass, in Costinescu.^[9]
• 1929 – a sector of a fortification or territory under one commander, in Șăineanu.^[10]
• 1939 – a district of a town, in Scriban.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics) The part of a plane bounded by two radii and the arc between them; a sector of a sphere.^[2][3]
2. (engineering) A machine part shaped like a sector of a circle or wheel.^[2][13]
3. A delimited part of a surface; the zone of action of a military unit.^[2][14]
4. An administrative district of a large city.^[2]
5. A field or branch of activity, especially of the economy.^[2][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 998
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 842
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sector
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. sector
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. sector
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 497
10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 581
11. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1183
12. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
13. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. sector
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 88