teren

Forms

teren n (plural terenuri)^[1] Old and regional forms: terân (written terran by Negulici), terein and the regional tărin; the old plural was terene, today terenuri.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French terrain, a neologism of the 19th century.^{[4][3][5][6][2]} The French word comes from Latin terrēnum, the neuter used as a noun of terrēnus (“made of earth”), from terra (“earth”), with a change of suffix.^[7] Wiktionary and Scriban give Vulgar Latin *terrānum as the intermediate form.^[1][8] The DLR explains the old variant with ⟨ei⟩ by the older French spelling terrein.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1838.^[5] MDA2's first record is from 1842, in a set of lecture notes on natural history and rural economy, with the sense “a stretch of land”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

From “a stretch of land” the word passed to the soil seen geologically and to a piece of ground set out for a purpose, above all a sports ground.^[6][5] The figurative “field of activity” and expressions such as a sonda terenul “to sound out the ground” and a câștiga teren “to gain ground” follow the French uses.^[6][9] The phrase pe teren “on the spot, in the field, not in the office” belongs to the 20th century.^[10]

Timeline

• 1838 – the first record according to Tiktin.^[5]
• 1842 – “a stretch of land” in lecture notes on rural economy.^[3]
• 1848 – terran in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[2]
• 1886 – teren “ground, soil; battlefield, course” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stretch of land, seen by its relief or its place: Au cumpărat un teren lângă pădure.^[6][1]
2. The soil seen from a geological or geographical point of view: terenuri paleozoice; a place, a region.^[6]
3. (figurative) A field of activity or interest.^[6][1]
4. A ground laid out for a purpose: teren de sport “sports pitch”.^[6][1]

Word family

• tot-teren

Related words

• subteran
• țară
• terestru
• Latin terra

Usage notes

Common expressions: a sonda (a pipăi, a tatona) terenul “to sound out the situation first”, a câștiga teren “to make headway”, a pierde teren “to lose ground”, a părăsi terenul “to give up”;^[12][1] pe teren “on the spot”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. teren
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, 1203
4. ^ 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. teren
5. ^ 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. teren
6. ^ 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. 1119
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1312
9. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. teren
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 415
11. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 642
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. mulțumi