tenis

Forms

tenis n (plural teniși)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English tennis, with French tennis as a second model;^{[2][3][4][5][6]} DEX, DN and DILF name both languages, and MDA2 and DLR also name lawn tennis.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary gives English alone.^[1] French took the word from English in 1824.^[7]

The English word first named the old ball game, real tennis, and comes from an imperative, Old French tenez (“hold!”), the server's call;^[7][8] DHLF notes that this use is not recorded in French itself.^[7][8] It thus belongs with the family of ține, from Latin teneō (“to hold”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and DLR first record the word in Cezar Petrescu's novel Întunecare (1928), in pantofi de tenis “tennis shoes”, worn by a man in an apache cap.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The modern game, lawn tennis, was codified in England in 1874 and soon called just tennis.^[7] In Romanian the word names the game, also tenis de câmp, and the compound tenis de masă “table tennis”, a synonym of ping-pong.^[2][5] A masculine plural teniși names canvas sports shoes with rubber soles, a use that grew from the tennis shoe.^[2][9]

The press of the 1990s added tenis cu piciorul, a ball game played with the feet over a net, after French tennis à pied.^[10]

Timeline

• 1824 – French borrows tennis from English.^[7]
• 1874 – English lawn tennis, the codified modern sport.^[7]
• 1928 – pantofi de tenis in Cezar Petrescu's Întunecare.^[5][6]
• 1995 – tenis cu piciorul in the Romanian press.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (neuter) tennis: a sport played by two players or two pairs, who hit a small ball with rackets over a low net across a court; also tenis de câmp.^[2][1]
2. tenis de masă: table tennis, played with small celluloid balls and bats on a table divided by a net; ping-pong.^[2][5]
3. (masculine, chiefly in the plural teniși) Sneakers, canvas sports shoes, first worn for tennis.^[2][9]

Related words

• ping-pong
• ține

Usage notes

The two genders split the senses: the game is neuter, with no plural, while the shoes are masculine, teniși.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1117
3. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. tenis
4. ^ a b c Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. tenis
5. ^ 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, 1199
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ténis
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. tenis
10. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. ténis