Etymology and origin of the Romanian word top
top1 ream
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 1748
- Borrowed from
- Ottoman Turkish طوپ
- Ultimate origin
- Ottoman Turkish طوپ
Pronunciation
- /ˈtop/[1]
Forms
top n (plural topuri)[1]
Etymology
The word for a ream of paper is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish طوپ (top, “ball; roll, bale”).[2][3][4][5] Șăineanu gives the Turkish word's basic sense as anything round: a ball, a globe;[6][7] Scriban lists “roll, bundle, package, cannon”.[6][7] The same Turkish word passed into Modern Greek τόπι (tópi), Albanian and Bulgarian топ (top), and Aromanian has top “ball; sugarloaf; roll”.[2][8][9]
Ciorănescu treats it as a doublet of the obsolete ⟨top⟩ “cannon” of the 18th century, from the same Turkish word.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
Tiktin dates the first record to 1748;[5][4] MDA2's first record is a text from before 1776.[5][4] A tariff of 1792 prices “the best paper” at 12 bani a top.[6]
Semantic evolution
The word was used for bales of goods sold in fixed quantities: a ream of paper, a bolt of cloth, and in Oltenia a pack of cotton thread with a set number of skeins.[10][4] Costinescu in 1870 and Șăineanu in 1929 define the ream as twenty quires, 480 sheets;[11][12][4] MDA2 now gives 250, 500 or 1,000 sheets.[11][12][4] The “bolt of cloth” sense is dated.[3]
Timeline
- 1748 – the first record.[5]
- 1792 – top of paper in a tariff.[6]
- 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary: twenty quires of paper, packed at the mill.[11]
Meanings
Noun
top2 chart
From the same root · top2
Pronunciation
- /ˈtop/[1]
Forms
top n (plural topuri)[1]
Etymology
The word for a chart of favourites is borrowed from English top (“top, highest”).[3][4][13][14][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Dimitrescu's first press quotation is from 1974, about folk singers who appear in all the specialist top-uri; the derivative topist is dated 1973.[15] MDA2 and the DLR take their first record from DEX, 1975.[4][13]
Semantic evolution
The first sense was a ranking of singers, actors or songs by the votes of the public or of critics; journalism now uses it for any ranking.[4][16] In the 2000s fashion took over English top for a short garment covering the upper body, often sleeveless.[15][4]
Timeline
- 1974 – top-uri of singers, in the press.[15]
- 1975 – recorded in DEX.[4]
- 2002 – topuri, low-cut tops worn with skirts and trousers.[15]
Meanings
Noun
Usage notes
MDA2 lists other words spelled top.[4] A regional top “cannon” is from Serbo-Croatian, recorded in Damé's dictionary.[4][13] A technical top, a short signal that marks a precise moment and in television a brief synchronising pulse, comes from English and French, first in the neologism dictionary of 1978.[4] Top is also a variant of topcă and of țop.[4] The phrase a trage cuiva un top de bătaie means to give someone a thorough beating.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c 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. top
- ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1131
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1240
- ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. top
- ^ a b c d Șăineanu, Lazăr (1900), Influența orientală asupra limbei și culturei române, vol. I: Introducerea; vol. II.1: Vorbele populare; vol. II.2: Vorbele istorice, literare, Indice, București: Socec, p. II, 363
- ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1330
- ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
- ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1040
- ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 453
- ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 623
- ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 658
- ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. top
- ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. top
- ^ a b c d e Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. top
- ^ a b c Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. top
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Top.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/top. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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