unitate

Forms

unitate f (plural unități)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French unité, with Latin ūnitās (“oneness, unity”) beside it in DEX, DN and MDN,^[2][3][4] Latin and French in DLR and MDA2,^[5][6] French in Wiktionary,^[1] and Latin in Scriban.^[7] Tiktin names Italian unità and French.^[8] DLR explains the old variant unătate by association with una and takes the rare unita from Italian.^[5] The Latin noun is formed from ūnus (“one”) and -tās.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1801.^[8] MDA2 has it first in Poenaru's geometry after Legendre of 1837, of the unit of measure: the right angle taken as the unit.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The word came in through arithmetic and geometry textbooks: Andrievici defines a unătate as each thing of a set of the same kind, and Poenaru speaks of a unit of measure.^[5] Negulici in 1848 glossed it as what expresses a single being, and Laurian and Massim as the quality and state of being one, the principle of number.^[10][11] Șăineanu in 1929 already had “oneness”, “harmony of the parts of a work” and the three unities of French classical tragedy.^[12] By 1939 Scriban records the military sense, a detachment such as a battalion or a battery, and Breban the economic sense, a state or cooperative enterprise.^[7][13]

Timeline

• 1801 – the first record Tiktin dates.^[8]
• 1837 – unitatea măsurii “the unit of measure” in Poenaru's geometry.^[6][5]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1939 – the military sense in Scriban.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The number one; a quantity taken as the standard for measuring others of its kind: unitate de măsură “unit of measurement”, unitate astronomică “astronomical unit”.^[2][6]
2. (mathematics) The units digit, the last digit of a number: cifra unităților.^[6][14]
3. The quality of being an indivisible whole; unity, cohesion, solidarity: regula celor trei unități “the rule of the three unities” of classical drama.^[2]
4. (economics) An enterprise or institution that keeps its own accounts: unitate economică.^[2]
5. (military) A permanent organizational subdivision of the armed forces.^[2][7]

Related words

• unu
• Latin ūnitās

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1173
3. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. unitate
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. unitate
5. ^ 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. unitate
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1378
7. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1379
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. unitate
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. unitate
11. ^ Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. 2, s.v. unitate
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc
13. ^ Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 647
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. unitate