vehicul

Forms

vehicul n (plural vehicule)^[1] The first record has the spelling veicul: „sîngele este dar veiculul vieții” “the blood is thus the vehicle of life”.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French véhicule, also borrowed from Latin vehiculum (“carriage, means of conveyance”), a neologism of the 19th century.^[3][4][2] Wiktionary gives French alone,^[1] Scriban Latin alone.^[5]

The noun is formed from Latin vehō (“to carry, convey”) + -culum.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in a medical book by Episcupescu of 1846, has the sense “means of transmission”: the blood is called the vehicle of life.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word came in as a term of medicine and physics for what carries or spreads something, such as air for sound or water for a disease, and was soon applied to the spread of ideas: Șăineanu's example is that printing is the best vehicle of thought.^[2][8] The sense “means of transport” is in Șăineanu's dictionary of 1929, for land or water,^[8] and Scriban lists cart, wagon, car, ship and aeroplane, noting a joking use for an odd carriage.^[5] It is now the main sense.^[3] Technical senses followed in pharmacy, the liquid in which active substances are dispersed, and in optics.^[9][10] In the history of religions Micul Vehicul and Marele Vehicul name Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism.^[4] The press compound vehicul-robot, after English robot vehicle, is recorded from 1980.^[11]

Timeline

• 1846 – veicul “means of transmission” in Episcupescu's medical book, the first record.^[4][2]
• 1886 – vehicul in Barcianu's dictionary, glossed “means of conveyance”.^[12]
• 1929 – Șăineanu gives the senses “means of transport” and “means of spreading”.^[8]
• 1980 – vehicul-robot in the press.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A vehicle: a means of transport by land, underground, by air, in space, or on or under water.^[3][4]
2. (figurative) What carries or spreads something; a means of passing on ideas or knowledge, or of spreading a disease: Țânțarul este vehiculul bolii.^[4][10]
3. (pharmacy) The excipient, the medium in which the active substances of a medicine are dispersed.^[9][4]
4. (optics) The lens system of a terrestrial telescope that turns the image upright.^[10][13]
5. (religion) In Micul Vehicul and Marele Vehicul: Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism.^[4]

Related words

• vector
• Latin vehiculum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. vehicul
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1191
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1450
5. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1398
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 692
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. vehicul
10. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 638
11. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. vehícul
12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 685
13. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. vehicul