vedetă

Forms

vedetă f (plural vedete)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French vedette, from Italian vedetta (“high place for keeping watch”).^[2][1][3] MDA2 and the DLR give the Italian word as a second direct source.^[4][5] French borrowed it in 1573; the Italian word may be a blend of veletta, a diminutive of vela (“sail”), with vedere (“to see”), or may come from Spanish veleta (“weathervane”), from velar (“to keep watch”), from Latin vigilō.^[3] Scriban too names the Spanish word and the influence of the Italian verb.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and the DLR cite Iordache Golescu's Condica limbii rumânești (about 1832) as the first record, in the military sense “cavalry sentry”.^[4][5] Barițiu advises setting vedete around a camp, and the dictionaries of Costinescu (1870) and Barcianu (1886) still give only this sense.^[5][7][8]

Semantic evolution

From the sentry the word passed to the place where he kept watch and, at sea, to a small warship or patrol boat.^[4][5] Scriban defines it as a small, chiefly river, torpedo boat.^[4][5][6] In printing it named a line set in bold type, and earlier the title of the addressee at the head of a letter.^[4][5]

The sense “star, lead performer” came with French usage; the DLR's earliest reference for it is Damé's dictionary of the 1890s, and Scriban adds “film actress”.^[5][6] It widened to famous sportspeople and media figures, and, often disparagingly, to anyone who seeks the limelight.^[4][2] Recent compounds include actor-vedetă and meci-vedetă “star match”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1832 – “cavalry sentry” in Iordache Golescu's Condica, the first record.^[4][5]
• 1870 – Costinescu: a mounted sentry and its look-out post.^[7]
• 1890s – the sense “star” in Damé's dictionary.^[5]
• 1939 – Scriban records the small torpedo boat and the film actress.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A star: an actor or actress in a leading role, especially in films; a very popular sportsperson or public figure, and (disparagingly) someone who wants to be noticed at all costs.^[2][4][1]
2. A small warship operating on rivers or near the coast; a launch for harbour traffic.^[2][4]
3. (printing) A line set in bold type to stand out; a catalogue heading.^[2][4]
4. (obsolete) A mounted sentry; the post where a sentry stood.^[4][5]

Word family

• vedetism
• vedetist

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. 1, 1190
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. vedette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1448
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vedetă
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1397
7. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 679
8. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 684
9. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. vedetă