tehnică

Forms

tehnică f (plural tehnici)^[1] Older texts write it tecnică: Hasdeu has „o imagine din tecnica picturei” “an image from the technique of painting”.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French technique, the source DEX and Wiktionary give.^[3][1] The DLR, which treats the noun under the adjective tehnic, names three sources together: borrowed from Latin technicus, borrowed from German Technik and the French word, and Marcu gives French and German for the noun.^[2][4] Wikționar takes it as the adjective used as a noun.^[5]

The French word was borrowed in 1684 from the Latin noun, “master of an art”, itself from Ancient Greek τεχνικός (tekhnikós, “belonging to an art, skilful”), from τέχνη (tékhnē, “craft, art, skill”).^[6][1] The Greek noun means “craftsmanship, handicraft, art” and also “artifice, trick”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DLR's first record of the noun, in the sense “the methods and rules of a craft or profession”, is from a periodical of 1840; the adjective tehnic is recorded from 1829.^[2][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Barițiu writes of courses de tehnică that Transylvania lacked, beside agriculture and forestry, and Hasdeu of the technique of painting.^[2] In the 20th century the word came to mean also the sum of tools and means of production a society has, tehnica producției, and the machines and devices in use.^[2][10][9] The army's tehnică de luptă is its weapons and auxiliary equipment.^[3] The older spellings were ⟨tecn-⟩ and ⟨techn-⟩.^[2]

Timeline

• 1829 – the adjective tehnic.^[8][9]
• 1840 – first record of the noun.^[2]
• 1870 – Costinescu enters it, with a cross-reference to tecnică.^[11]
• 1929 – Șăineanu defines it as all the procedures of an art or craft.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The methods, procedures and rules, joined with personal skill, used in a piece of work or a profession; technique: tehnica interpretării muzicale.^[3][9][10]
2. The tools and means of production developed in history; technology: progresele tehnicii.^[9][13]
3. The machines and devices in use in a field.^[10]
4. (military) In tehnică de luptă: the weapons and auxiliary equipment of an army.^[3]

Related words

• tehnic
• tehnician
• tehnologie

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tehnic
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1112
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. tehnic
5. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. technique
7. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. τέχνη
8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. tehnic
9. ^ 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, 1189
10. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. tehnică
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 604
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 645
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 405