subteran

Forms

subteran m or n (feminine singular subterană, masculine plural subterani, feminine/neuter plural subterane)^[1] Old and rare forms are recorded beside the modern one: Aristia's translation of Plutarch has suteraniu in „un altar suteraniu” “an underground altar”.^[2][3] Scriban notes that some speakers say suteran.^[4] Antonescu's dictionary of 1875 spells it in the Latinist way, Subterranu.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French souterrain, with Latin subterraneus (“underground”) as a second model: DEX takes it after the French word, with the first sense also from Latin, while MDA2, the DLR and NODEX put the Latin word first.^[6][3][2][7] The neologism dictionaries give French alone or both sources, and Wiktionary calls it a borrowing from French and a learned borrowing from Latin.^[8][9][1] Scriban compares mediteran.^[4]

The Latin adjective is formed of sub- (“under”), terra (“earth, ground”) and the suffix -āneus.^[1][10] The French word was first written sozterrain (about 1130); it is made of sous (“under”) and terrain on the model of the Latin adjective.^[11] Graur lists the word with the other Romanian words that go back to the same Latin noun, such as țară, teren and terestru.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Ion Heliade Rădulescu's translations from Byron, published in 1834, in the sense “lying or happening under the surface of the earth”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the literal sense, “underground”, came “typical of the world below the ground” and, of animals, plants and parts of plants, “living or growing under the ground”.^[3] Used as a noun, the feminine names an underground room or gallery and the neuter a mine;^[3][6] MDA2 also records a rare masculine noun for a miner.^[3][6]

A figurative sense, “hidden, secret”, appears in Scriban, who quotes manopere supterane “underhand dealings”;^[4][11] the French word has carried this sense since the 16th century.^[4][11] DEX narrows it to political organisations working illegally, and NODEX labels “secret, clandestine” as rare.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1834 – the first record, in Heliade Rădulescu's translations from Byron.^[3]
• 1875 – Subterranu in Antonescu's dictionary, glossed with French souterain.^[5]
• 1939 – Scriban records the figurative sense “hidden, secret” and the noun for an underground gallery.^[4]
• 1949 – the neuter noun in the sense “mine”, in a press quotation.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. underground, subterranean: lying at some depth below the surface of the earth.^[6][7]
2. Carried out or taking place under the ground: o explozie subterană “an underground explosion”.^[6][7]
3. (figurative) Of political organisations: working in secret, illegal.^[6][9]

Noun

1. (feminine) A room, gallery or other structure lying wholly (and deep) under the ground.^[6][4]
2. (neuter) A mine.^[6][8]

Related words

• mediteran
• teren
• terestru
• țară
• Latin subterraneus

Usage notes

The noun has two genders with different senses: o subterană is an underground room or gallery, un subteran a mine.^[6][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. subteran
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1038
4. ^ a b c d e f Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1259
5. ^ a b Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 301
6. ^ 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. 1067
7. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. subteran
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. subteran
9. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. subteran
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 98
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 287