set

Forms

set n (plural seturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English set, also borrowed from French set, a 20th-century loan.^[2][3][4][1] The French word is itself from English: it was first a word for a fashionable circle (1833), and in tennis a series of games from 1893.^[5] The DHLF explains the English noun partly as a derivative of the verb meaning “to put, place”, of Germanic origin, and partly as a borrowing of Old French sette, from Latin secta, the source of the senses “group” and “collection of things”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Lexiconul tehnic român of 1957, the source of the printers' sense, a unit for the width of a letter on the Monotype machine.^[3][4] The sports sense was in the dictionaries of the 1950s.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

Sports came first: the DLRLC knows only the stage of a tennis, table tennis or volleyball match that ends at an agreed score.^[6] The DLR quotes the press for it in 1969, of a set won by Ashe and Năstase.^[4] The sense “set of objects” came into the dictionaries soon after: the DLR quotes the press of 1968 and 1969 for sets of goods and of munitions, and DEX adds a matching outfit, such as a pullover with a jacket.^[4][2] The typographic unit is a technical term recorded by the DN and the DLR.^[7][4]

Timeline

• 1957 – the typographic sense in the Lexiconul tehnic român, MDA2's first record.^[3][4]
• 1968 – seturi “sets” of goods in the press.^[4]
• 1969 – a tennis set of Ashe and Năstase in the newspaper Scînteia.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A part of a match in tennis, volleyball and other games, ended by reaching an agreed score.^[2][3]
2. A series of objects or technical instruments sold together; a kit or set.^[2][1]
3. A matching outfit of clothes made of the same material, especially a pullover and a jacket.^[2][3]
4. (printing) A unit for the width of a letter, 0.019598 mm.^[7][4]

Usage notes

Only one word set is a common noun: DEX 2009 has a single headword with the sports and the “series of objects” senses, both from English and French.^[2] Set with a capital is the name of Seth, the third son of Adam.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1009
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, 866
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. set
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 106
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. set
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 586