vapor

Forms

vapor n (plural vapoare)^[1] In the sense “vapour” the word is masculine, with the plural vapori.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian vapore, also borrowed from French vapeur, and for the sense “vapour, steam” also borrowed from Latin vapor (“steam, exhalation”).^[3][4][5] Tiktin names New Latin and Italian.^[6] For the sense “steamship” MDA2 adds Modern Greek βαπόρι (vapóri), and DEX gives the Greek word as the only source of the ship sense.^[3][7] The Italian and French words come from the Latin one.^[8][1]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain: de Vaan reports Schrijver's comparison with Ancient Greek καπνός (kapnós, “smoke”) and Baltic words for smoke, while Beekes rejects an Indo-European origin.^[9][1]

The Aromanian word pampore “steamship” has another source: Ciorănescu and Pascu take it from Modern Greek παμπόρι (pampóri).^[4][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from about 1790.^[6] Amfilohie Hotiniul's Gramatica fizicii, a late 18th-century manuscript translated from Italian, uses the word for mist and water vapour: „vaporii ori ceţi sînt o mulțime de părticeli apoase” “vapours or mists are a multitude of watery particles”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 1830s the word meant steam as a motive power: Heliade wrote of printing „prin vapor” “by steam”, and a periodical of 1836 of the victory of „puterii vaporului ca putere motrică” “the power of steam as motive power”.^[5] The sense “steamship” is first recorded in Constantin Golescu's travel notes of the 1820s.^[3] Dictionaries of the 1870s and 1880s list both meanings: “steam” as a masculine noun and “steamship” as a neuter one.^[12][13][14]

The two senses then split by gender and plural: masculine vapori for the gas, neuter vapoare for the ship.^[2][4] The ship sense widened to any vessel with its own engine.^[7][3] In the villages vapor also named the steam engine that drove the threshing machine,^[15][3] and was a mocking name for a heavy horse.^[3] In older usage the masculine noun covered exhalations and the “vapours” that old medicine thought rose to the brain.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1790 – Tiktin's first record.^[6]
• late 18th century – “mist, vapour” in Amfilohie Hotiniul's Gramatica fizicii.^[5]
• 1820s – “steamship” in Constantin Golescu's travel notes.^[3]
• 1836 – “steam as motive power” in a periodical.^[5]
• 1870 – both senses in Costinescu's dictionary.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (neuter, plural vapoare) A ship driven by its own engine; originally a steamship.^[7][3]
2. (neuter, regional) A portable steam engine, especially one driving a threshing machine.^[3][15]
3. (masculine, plural vapori) vapour, steam; a substance in the gaseous state below its critical temperature: vapori de apă “water vapour”.^[2][16]
4. (masculine, obsolete) Exhalations that old medicine believed rose from the blood to the brain, and the disorders they were blamed for.^[3][16]

Word family

• vaporiza
• vaporizator
• vaporos
• vaporaș

Related words

• abur
• Aromanian pampore
• Latin vapor

Usage notes

The two genders separate the senses: vaporii are vapours, vapoarele are ships.^[2] Cal-vapor is a French-modelled synonym of cal-putere “horsepower”.^[2][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 618
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1413
4. ^ 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. vapor
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. vapor
6. ^ 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. vapor
7. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1183
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 230
11. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 782
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 676
13. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 327
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 682
15. ^ a b Cazacu, Boris (coord.) et al. (1967), Glosar dialectal. Oltenia, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 123
16. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. vapor
17. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. vapor