variantă

Forms

variantă f (plural variante)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French variante (“variant”), a 19th-century loan.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Scriban explains the French noun as the feminine of variant, the present participle of varier (“to vary”).^[6] MDA2 also records the form variant, with a neuter and a masculine plural.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Antonescu's dictionary of 1862, in the philological sense “one of the different readings of the same manuscript text”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From the readings of a manuscript the word spread to the differing versions of a literary work or an artistic motif, and then to any form that departs from the one taken as basic or typical.^[2][3] Linguistics uses it for a different spelling or pronunciation of a word: Scriban's example is vrâstă beside vârstă.^[6][3] Scriban also records a technical sense, a short railway or tram line parallel to the main one; today the word names a road that bypasses part of the main route.^[6][3] Biology and statistics have their own specialized senses.^[7]

Timeline

• 1862 – variantă “a different reading of a manuscript” in Antonescu's dictionary.^[2][5]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it as a different form of the same text.^[8]
• 1939 – Scriban records the linguistic sense and the sense of a parallel railway line.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A form that differs from the one taken as basic or typical; a version of something, such as a text, a work or a plan: Au discutat trei variante ale proiectului.^[3][2]
2. (linguistics) A form of a word or other linguistic element that differs in sound or spelling from the usual one.^[3][9]
3. A road that bypasses part of the main route and rejoins it further on.^[3][7]
4. (biology) An individual or population that differs from the type in one or more traits.^[7]

Related words

• varia
• variație

Usage notes

It is pronounced with the vowels ⟨i⟩ and ⟨a⟩ in separate syllables (va-ri-an-tă).^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1414
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1183
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. variantă
5. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. variantă
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1391
7. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. variantă
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 688
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. variantă