serviciu

Forms

serviciu n (plural servicii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French service (“service”), and also borrowed from Latin servitium (“slavery, service”).^[2][3][1] MDA2, DEX, DLRM and Wiktionary name both sources, and Tiktin names French as the model.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The noun is formed from Latin servus + -itium and first meant the condition of a slave or servant.^[6][1] The French word continues the Latin one and is recorded from about 1050 as servise, first in religious and then in feudal use.^[7]

Graur places the word in the family of the Latin word for slave, beside the inherited șerb and serba and the later loans servi and servil.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Ion Neculce's chronicle, which he dates 1765.^[5] MDA2 gives a later first record, the Iași newspaper Albina românească of 1829.^[2] Tiktin also records an older form servis, with the plural servisuri, which has since gone out of use.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word covered the state and work of a servant, the use made of an animal or a thing, help given to someone, a period of employment in an office or the army, church service and a set of plates and cutlery on a table, as Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 lists them.^[9] Tiktin adds the military service, divine service, being on duty and a coffee service.^[5]

MDA2 records many old and regional variants, among them servici, servițiu, servițion, serviție and the regional sărvici, and an old plural serviciuri.^[2] The plural servicii also names a sector of the economy that meets people's needs.^[10] Recent compounds include servicii de politețe, the courtesy services of a filling station, recorded in the press in 1977.^[11]

Timeline

• 1765 – Tiktin's first record, in Ion Neculce's chronicle.^[5]
• 1829 – MDA2's first record, in Albina românească.^[2]
• 1848 – listed in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms, glossed slujbă “service, office”.^[12]
• 1870 – Costinescu lists the senses “state of a servant”, “help” and “set of tableware”.^[9]
• 1977 – servicii de politețe “courtesy services” in the press.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of serving; work done for someone or in their interest; a good turn or favour done to someone: a face cuiva un serviciu.^[3][13]
2. A job, employment; the duties of an employee: serviciu militar “military service”, serviciu divin “divine service”, de serviciu “on duty”.^[3][2][1]
3. A department of an institution or company, and the staff who work in it.^[3][14]
4. A set of objects used together: serviciu de cafea “coffee service”.^[3][5]
5. In economics (plural), the sector of activities that supply the needs of the population.^[10][2]
6. In sport, the serve: putting the ball into play.^[3]

Related words

• servi
• șerbi
• șerb
• serba
• servil
• șervet

Usage notes

Scară de serviciu is a back staircase of a building, used to reach the service rooms, and om de serviciu a cleaner or caretaker.^[3][2] A face un rău serviciu cuiva means to do someone harm without meaning to.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 865
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1009
4. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 763
5. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. serviciu
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 91
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 508
10. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. serviciu
11. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. serviciu
12. ^ 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. serviciu
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. serviciu
14. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. serviciu