trib

Forms

trib n (plural triburi)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned loan, borrowed from Latin tribus (“a division of the Roman people, tribe”), with French tribu as a second model, as the DLR, MDA2 and Scriban give it.^[2][3][4] DEX 2009, Tiktin and Wiktionary name Latin alone.^[5][6][1] The neuter gender and the plural in ⟨-uri⟩ are Romanian: in Latin and French the word is feminine.^[4]

The French word was borrowed from Latin about 1355, first as a term of ancient history and for the tribes of Israel in the Vulgate.^[7] The origin of the Latin word is debated: it is perhaps linked with trēs (“three”), as if it once meant “one of three parts”, and de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *tri-dʰh₁-u- (“tripartite”).^[8][9][1] The DHLF calls its origin unknown, the link with three not being supported by history.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1829.^[6] MDA2 and the DLR cite first C. Aristia's translation of Plutarch's Parallel Lives (1857), where it names the tribes of antiquity.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word came in as a term of ancient history, for the tribes of Athens, Rome and Israel (“the tribe of Judah”, “the tribe of Levi”).^[4][10] It was then applied to peoples organised in kinship groups (“the Arab tribes”, “African tribes”), and the dictionaries of the 20th century define it as a form of organisation of primitive society.^[10][2][5] In biology it names a subdivision of a family.^[3][11] Figuratively it is a large family, and in slang a gang or a Roma camp (șatră).^[12][13] An old variant was treb, in Săulescu.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1829 – the first record.^[6]
• 1857 – the tribes of antiquity in Aristia's Plutarch.^[3][2]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it with French tribu, “a tribe of Tatars”.^[14]
• 1929 – Șăineanu gives the senses of the Hebrew tribes and of a small people.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tribe: a group of related clans or families with a common language, beliefs and territory, under the authority of a chief.^[5][3][1]
2. (history) Among ancient peoples, a lineage or people; in ancient Rome, the population of a district.^[3][11]
3. (biology) A subdivision of a family, comprising related genera.^[3]
4. (figurative) A large family.^[12]
5. (slang) A gang; a Roma camp.^[13]

Related words

• tribun
• tribut
• Latin tribus

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. trib
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1276
4. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1345
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1145
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. trib
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 666
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. trib
12. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. trib
13. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. trib
14. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 640