tron

tron¹ throne

Pronunciation

• /tron/^[1]

Forms

tron n (plural tronuri)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the throne is borrowed from French trône, also borrowed from Latin thronus: DEX 2009, DILF and Ciorănescu give the French word, NODEX and MDN French and Latin.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Tiktin gives the Greek or Latin word, partly through other languages;^[7][8] Scriban gives Ancient Greek.^[7][8] MDA2 also names Modern Greek θρόνος (thrónos) and German Thron.^[9]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek θρόνος (thrónos, “seat, chair of state”),^[10][1] recorded already in Mycenaean.^[11] Beekes notes the traditional link with Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to hold, support”), and Wiktionary the view that the word may be Pre-Greek.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică of 1705.^[7] A document of 1799 has the throne of a king: „unde ședea craiul în tron” “where the king sat on the throne”.^[12] MDA2's first record is Klein's dictionary of 1801.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From the ceremonial chair the word passed to the rule it stands for, sovereign power, and to the phrase a se urca pe tron “to ascend the throne”.^[2][9] It also names the chair of a prelate at a service, and in church language, in the plural, the Thrones, an order of angels.^[2][9] Costinescu (1870) records discursul tronului, the speech from the throne at the opening of parliament.^[13] In humorous speech it means the toilet.^[1][14]

Timeline

• 1705 – first record, in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[7]
• 1799 – „ședea craiul în tron” in a document.^[12]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary.^[9]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses it with Latin thronus and German Thron.^[15]
• 1870 – discursul tronului “the speech from the throne”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A throne: the carved, ornate chair on which monarchs sit at ceremonies; by extension the symbol of rule.^[2]
2. (figurative) Sovereign power; domnie.^[2]
3. A chair for prelates at religious ceremonies.^[2]
4. (church, plural) Thrones, an order of angels.^[9]
5. (humorous) The toilet.^[1][14]

Word family

• întrona

tron² chest, coffin

Pronunciation

• /tron/^[1]

Forms

tron n (plural tronuri, regional troane)^[2][16]

Etymology

The word for the chest is borrowed from German Truh(e)n (“chest”), a dialectal German form.^[2][12][9] Ciorănescu follows Tiktin and Cihac in this.^[4] Tiktin derives it from the Transylvanian Saxon word, which he writes ⟨trun⟩.^[7] Scriban compares Polish truna “coffin”.^[8]

The German word goes back to Old High German truha and Middle High German truhe; its further origin is uncertain.^[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is Vasile Lupu's Pravila (Iași, 1646).^[9] In Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 it translates Slavonic kovčegŭ “chest, ark” and raka “shrine, coffin”.^[7][18]

Semantic evolution

In popular speech it is a chest for clothes and household things, also the dowry chest, tron de zestre.^[2][9] A folk poem uses it for the Ark of the Covenant.^[7] The chest gave rise to many special uses: a carpenter's tool chest, a chest for maize flour, a box of food for a ploughman going to the field, a chest for salting pork, a drawer.^[9]

The sense “coffin” is regional, in Oltenia, Banat and Transylvania, as in the folk song „Tron de ceară că-i făcea” “they made him a coffin of wax”.^[8][7][16] In Muntenia it also names the wooden curb of a well and the box of a cart.^[19]

Timeline

• 1646 – first record, in Vasile Lupu's Pravila.^[9]
• 1649 – Mardarie's lexicon, for “chest, ark” and “coffin”.^[7][18]
• 1678 – the lexicon Lex.1348, for “chest, ark”.^[18]
• 1886 – Barcianu gives both “throne” and “coffin”.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) A chest, a ladă in which peasants keep clothes and other things; a dowry chest.^[2][9]
2. (regional) A coffin; sicriu.^[2]
3. (regional) The wooden curb of a well; the box of a cart.^[19][9]

Word family

• tronișor
• troneci