violet

Forms

violet m or n (feminine singular violetă, masculine plural violeți, feminine/neuter plural violete)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French violet, as DEX, DN, DILF and Wiktionary give it;^{[2][3][4][1][5][6]} MDA2 and DLR add borrowed from German violett.^{[2][3][4][1][5][6]} The French adjective was formed from violette (“violet (the flower)”), a diminutive of Old French viole, from Latin viola (“violet”).^[1][7] The German word is itself from French.^[8][9] Scriban also compares Italian violetto.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a trade document of 1779 published by Furnică, which lists „tinichea tabac violet” “a tin of violet tobacco”; another of 1780 has violet tobacco again.^[6][5] In 1837 a periodical still explained marmoră violetă with the native name of the violet, toporaș.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the colour of the violet flower, between red and dark blue, which early texts explained by the flower names viorea and toporaș.^[6][5] In 19th-century physics and chemistry it named the last colour of the spectrum, after indigo: Marin wrote of the raze violete “violet rays”.^[6][2] As a neuter noun it also means a violet dye, and violet de gențiană is the antiseptic gentian violet.^[5] The feminine noun violetă is a name of the violet flower, from French violette.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1779 – tabac violet “violet tobacco” in a trade document, the first record.^[6][5]
• 1837 – marmoră violetă, explained with toporaș.^[6]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it with French violet.^[12]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German veilchenblau, violett.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the colour of the viorea flower, between red and dark blue; violet, purple.^[2][5]

Noun

1. (neuter) The violet colour, the last colour of the spectrum, after indigo.^[2][5]
2. (neuter) A violet dye;^[5] violet de gențiană “gentian violet”, an antiseptic.^[5]
3. (feminine, violetă, botany) The violet flower; toporaș.^[2]

Related words

• Latin viola

Usage notes

The neuter noun has a rare plural violeturi.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1200
3. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. violet
4. ^ a b Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. violet
5. ^ 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, 1486
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. violet
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 960
9. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1408
11. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. violet
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 700
13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 692