valoare

Forms

valoare f (plural valori)^[1] Mid-19th-century writers also used valoră and the neuter valor: „Viața nu mai avea nici o valoră” “life no longer had any value” (Albineț), „pot avea valor” “they can have value” (Vasici).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French valeur, with Late Latin valor, the sources DEX and MDN give, and MDA2 and the DLR add Italian valore.^{[4][5][3][2][1]} DN gives the French and Italian words, both from Latin;^[6][7][8] Ciorănescu names French alone and Tiktin Italian and French.^[6][7][8]

The Latin noun belongs to the later language and is formed on valeō (“to be strong; to be worth”).^[1][9] The French word goes back to the Chanson de Roland.^[10] The verb goes back through Proto-Italic *walēō to the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1831.^[8] The DLR's first quotation, and MDA2's first record, is from Heliade-Rădulescu, on the worth of a fable.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Negulici (1848) glosses it simply with preț “price”.^[12] Barcianu (1886) has the value of coins, nominal value and the value of a musical note.^[13] Scriban adds the exact meaning of words and, in the plural, securities.^[14] The modern dictionaries list senses in economics, mathematics, music and painting beside the general sense of worth.^[4][6]

Ciorănescu lists the verbs valora, valoriza and valorifica, valoros from French valeureux, devaloriza from dévaloriser, and valută “foreign currency” from Italian valuta.^[7]

Timeline

• 1831 – the first record.^[8]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary, glossed “price”.^[12]
• 1857 – valoră in a calendar, still beside valoare.^[2]
• 1886 – the value of coins and of musical notes.^[13]
• 2007 – valoare-record “record value”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. value, worth: the quality of what is good, desirable and important, and the thing or person that has it: de valoare “valuable”, a pune în valoare “to bring out, highlight”, judecată de valoare “value judgement”.^[4][3]
2. Effectiveness, power: valoare nutritivă “nutritional value”.^[4]
3. (economics) The cost of the factors of production needed for goods and services: valoare de întrebuințare “use value”, valoare de schimb “exchange value”.^[4]
4. The price of a commodity or a share expressed in money, and a security such as a cheque or a bond.^[4][14]
5. (mathematics, physics) The number associated with a quantity, and the result of a calculation: valoare absolută.^[4]
6. (music) The length of a note or a rest.^[4][13]
7. (painting) The effect of placing two shades of a colour side by side.^[4]
8. The meaning or shade of meaning of a word.^[4][14]

Word family

• valora
• valoriza
• valorifica
• valoros
• devaloriza
• valută

Related words

• French valeur
• Latin valeō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. valoare
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, 1409
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1181
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. valoare
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. valoare
7. ^ 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. valoare
8. ^ 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. valoare
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ 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. valoare
13. ^ a b c Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 681
14. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1390
15. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. valoáre