stil

Forms

stil n (plural stiluri)^[1] Besides stiluri, MDA2 gives a plural stile for some senses, and it records the regional forms știl and știleu.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French style, at the same time borrowed from Latin stilus (“pointed instrument for writing”), as MDA2 and Scriban give it.^[2][3] The Wiktionary takes it from French, from Latin.^[1] Tiktin names Italian stile beside the French word, and Gabinschi adds German Stil and Russian стиль (stilʹ) as models.^[4][5]

The Latin word meant a pointed instrument, in particular the stylus for writing on wax tablets, and in rhetoric the manner of writing.^[6][7] MDA2, Scriban and Gabinschi trace it to Ancient Greek στῦλος (stûlos, “pillar”),^[2][3][5] but the OLD, Lewis & Short and the Wiktionary keep the two apart: the spelling stylus came from a mistaken association with the Greek word.^[8][9][1] De Vaan finds a root for a sharp object in the word, stimulus (“goad”) and stīva (“plough handle”), with no certain etymology.^[7] French had Old French estile in 1280–1290 and wrote the word with ⟨y⟩ from the end of the 14th century, by the same association.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1765.^[4] The DLR cites Budai-Deleanu's lexicon and a periodical of 1834 that defines it: „Stilul este chipul sau felul ce întrebuințează cineva în scriere” “style is the way or manner someone uses in writing”.^[10] MDA2 dates it to Petru Maior's history of 1834.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The manner of writing came first.^[10] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) also gives a painter's manner of drawing, stilul lui Raphael.^[11] Costinescu (1870) adds the stylus of the ancients, the church style, the chancery style, and stil nou and stil vechi, the Gregorian and Julian calendars.^[12] Scriban adds the botanical sense, the part of a pistil above the ovary.^[3]

DEX also gives a people's or a person's way of being and acting: de stil “in a period style”, în stil mare “on a grand scale”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1765 – first record.^[4]
• 1834 – a definition in a periodical: “the way someone writes”.^[10]
• 1834 – MDA2's first record, in Petru Maior's history.^[2]
• 1848 – Negulici's dictionary of neologisms gives the senses in writing and painting.^[11]
• 1870 – stil nou and stil vechi for the calendars in Costinescu.^[12]
• 1886 – Barcianu gives German “Griffel, Styl, Schreibart”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A specific way of expressing oneself in a field, a person's own manner of expression, especially the language a writer uses for artistic effect: Are un stil simplu și clar.^[13][1]
2. The particular features of how a people, a group or a person shows itself, a manner of acting: de stil “in the fashion of a past period”, în stil mare “on a grand scale”.^[13]
3. Each of the two calendar systems that differ by 13 days: stil nou (Gregorian) and stil vechi (Julian).^[13]
4. A pointed metal or bone stylus used in antiquity to write on wax tablets.^[15]
5. (botany) The part of the pistil above the ovary that bears the stigma.^[15][3]

Related words

• stiliza
• Latin stilus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 989
3. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1243
4. ^ 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. stil
5. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 166
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. stil
11. ^ 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. stil
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 558
13. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1052
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 609
15. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. stil