structură

Forms

structură f (plural structuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin structūra (“building, construction”), also borrowed from French structure: the dictionaries name both sources.^[2][3][4][1] Scriban gave only the Latin word.^[5] The Latin noun is formed on struō (“to build”) with the suffix -tūra.^[6][1] French took the word from Latin at the end of the 14th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is of 1823, in Tomici's translated handbook on keeping bees.^[2] In 1848 Negulici defined structură as the way a building or an animal body is built or composed, and the arrangement of the parts of a word.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The 19th-century dictionaries give the sense of the way a building is made, extended to the human and animal body and figuratively to the order of the parts of a speech or poem.^[9][10] The 20th century added many technical senses: the arrangement of atoms in a molecule, of rock layers in geology, of the load-bearing parts of a construction, and in linguistics the grammatical structure, with the structură de suprafață and structură de adâncime of generative grammar.^[2][3] It also came to mean the organisation of a society, an industry or an institution.^[3][2] MDA2 records a rare variant ștructură.^[2]

Timeline

• 1823 – first record, in Tomici's book on beekeeping.^[2]
• 1848 – structură in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1870 – Costinescu defines it as the manner in which a building is made.^[9]
• 1970 – the derivative structurant in România literară.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The internal organization of a body or system: the way its parts are arranged and related.^[3][2][1]
2. (chemistry, mineralogy) The arrangement of atoms in a molecule, or of molecules in a mineral.^[3]
3. (anatomy, biology) The arrangement of the parts of the body or of tissues;^[3][2] (psychology) a person's make-up.^[3][2]
4. The way a building or bridge is built; the load-bearing frame of a construction.^[3][2]
5. The way a literary or musical work is put together; in linguistics, the organisation of a language's elements: structură gramaticală.^[3][2]
6. The organisation of a society in economic, social and political terms; that of an industry, institution or organisation.^[3][2]

Word family

• structural
• structura
• structurant

Related words

• construi
• instrui
• Latin struō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1021
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 1061
4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. structură
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1254
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. ^ 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. structură
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 567
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 622
11. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. structurant