suport

Forms

suport n (plural suporturi)^[1] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 spells it supportŭ or suportu: „aquestŭ stâlpŭ este supportulŭ a tótă bolta” “this pillar is the support of the whole vault”.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French support.^[3][4][5][1] The French noun is a deverbal formation from French supporter, from Latin supportō (“to carry up, convey”), made of sub (“under”) and portō (“to carry”).^[1][6] The Romanian verb suporta was borrowed from the French verb separately.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 is the earliest record in our sources, with the sense of a thing that holds up or props another, and the figurative sense of a helper or protector: supportulŭ familiei sélle “the support of his family”.^[2] MDA2's first record is dated by its bibliography to 1893.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From a prop or stand the word passed to the technical sense of a piece or device that holds another part, a machine or a system in place.^[4][5] Newer technical senses followed French: the base of a cinema film that carries the emulsion, and a medium on which data are stored in computing.^[7]

The figurative sense “help, backing” is old; recent press usage adds financial or technical support, as in suport financiar and suport pentru aplicații.^[8][9] In heraldry a masculine suport, plural suporți, is a figure that seems to hold up the shield.^[7]

Timeline

• 1870 – supportŭ, suportu “prop; protector” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1893 – MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1929 – Șăineanu gives the literal and the figurative sense.^[10]
• 1939 – Scriban gives the arch support and the figurative “person you can rely on”.^[6]
• 1999 – suport “help, backing” in the press, as in Grupul de suport.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something that holds up or supports an object; a piece or device that holds a part or a technical system, a stand or bracket.^[4][1]
2. The base of a cinema film that carries the light-sensitive emulsion.^[7]
3. (computing) A medium used to record and store information.^[7]
4. (figurative) Help, backing, something to lean on; in business, financial or technical support.^[4][8]
5. (heraldry) A figure on the outside of a coat of arms that seems to hold it up, a supporter; in this sense masculine, plural suporți.^[7]

Related words

• suporta
• port

Usage notes

The usual plural is suporturi; a masculine plural suporți is rare, and older texts have supoarte.^[3][11] The verb with the same French source is suporta.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 583
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1063
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1075
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. suport
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1267
7. ^ a b c d e Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. suport
8. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. suport
9. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. suport
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 629
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. suport