teatru

Forms

teatru n (plural teatre)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French théâtre, the source DER, DEX and Wiktionary name for the modern word.^[2][3][1] DEX names borrowed from Latin theātrum beside the French word, and MDA2 gives four sources together: Latin, Modern Greek θέατρον (théatron), French and German Theater.^[3][4] Ciorănescu adds that the word had come earlier, in the 18th century, from the Greek form, and Gáldi counts it among the Greek loans of the Phanariote period.^[2][5] Tiktin, whose first record is of 1648, takes it from Greek or Latin, partly through other languages.^[6]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, “a place for viewing”), formed on θεάομαι (theáomai, “to view”) with the suffix -τρον (-tron).^[1] French took the word from Latin in the middle of the 12th century.^[7] It is also found south of the Danube, as Aromanian teatru, recorded by Cunia;^[8][2] Ciorănescu writes the Aromanian form with ⟨θ⟩.^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the New Testament of 1648, in Acts 19:31, where friends send word asking him not to go into the theatre: „să nu iasă în teatru”.^[9][6][4] DLR files this passage under the sense “place where something happens”.^[9] Dosoftei, in his lives of the saints, uses the word for the place of a spectacle, glossing it with prăvirişte “viewing place”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th and 18th centuries the word was learned and rare, used of the theatres of antiquity and of an assembly of people: Cantemir has theatrul for the gathered crowd that a speaker addresses.^[6] Gáldi records it in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică of 1705 and in later Phanariote texts.^[5] The sense “scene of an event” runs from the 1648 New Testament through Șincai, Asachi and Negruzzi to the modern teatrul crimei “the scene of the crime” and the military teatru de operații “theatre of operations”.^[9][3]

In the 19th century the word took its modern senses: Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defines it as the building where plays are staged, and Negruzzi and Alecsandri write of going to the theatre.^[10][11] From the building it passed to the performance, the art of the stage, the actor's profession and a body of plays.^[3][12] A face teatru “to put on an act, pretend” and the colloquial sense “a noisy scene, a row” come from the stage sense.^[3] Recent compounds include teatru-dans “dance theatre” and teatru-document “documentary theatre”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1648 – teatru in the New Testament, Acts 19:31.^[6][9][4]
• 1705 – in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[5]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda glosses teatru with Latin theatrum and German Schaubühne.^[14]
• 1848 – Negulici defines it as the building where plays are performed.^[10]
• 19th century – la teatru “to the theatre, at the theatre” in Negruzzi and Alecsandri.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A theatre: a building or place fitted out for staging performances; by extension, the institution that puts them on.^[3][4]
2. A performance or dramatic show;^[3][15] de teatru “for the stage”;^[3][15] a face teatru “to pretend, put on an act”.^[3][15]
3. (colloquial) A noisy quarrel that draws onlookers, a scene.^[3]
4. The art of presenting a play to an audience; the profession of an actor or director.^[3][12]
5. Dramatic literature; the plays of an author or a people, or a collection of plays.^[3][12]
6. The place where an event happens;^[3][4] teatru de operații (or de război) “theatre of operations”, the area of major military action.^[3][4]

Word family

• teatral

Related words

• Aromanian teatru
• French théâtre

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. teatru
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1111
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1188
5. ^ a b c Gáldi, Ladislas (1939), Les mots d'origine néo-grecque en roumain à l'époque des Phanariotes, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Egyetemi Nyomda, p. 259
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. teatru
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1006
9. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. teatru
10. ^ 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. teatru
11. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 404
12. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. teatru
13. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. teatru
14. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 699
15. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. teatru