zonă

Forms

zonă f (plural zone)^[1] A regional variant is zoană, and an old plural zoni.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French zone, as DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary give it.^[3][2][1] Tiktin names Greek, Latin and Italian zona as its sources, and NODEX adds Latin zōna (“belt; zone”).^[4][5] The French word is a learned loan from Latin zōna, from Ancient Greek ζώνη (zṓnē, “belt, girdle”), from ζώννυμι (zṓnnumi, “to gird”).^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a geography translated from Greek in Moldavia around 1780, for each of the belts of the earth between the poles, the polar circles and the tropics.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was geographical: the five great belts of the globe, and the matching parts of the sky.^[2][8] Negulici in 1848 defines it as one of the five bands between the two poles.^[9] Costinescu in 1870 adds the geometrical sense, the part of a sphere between two parallel planes.^[8]

In the 20th century it became a general word for any part of an area marked off by its features or by a special purpose: border zones, military zones, sectors of a town.^[3][2][10] Physics uses it for a band of frequencies.^[3] Recent press language forms compounds such as zonă-cheie “key zone” and zonă-pilot “pilot zone”.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1780 – the five zones of the earth in a geography translated from Greek in Moldavia.^[2][4]
• 1848 – listed among the neologisms in Negulici's dictionary.^[9]
• 1870 – the geographical and geometrical senses in Costinescu's dictionary.^[8]
• 2007 – zonă-pilot “pilot zone” in the press.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Each of the five great belts of the globe, bounded by the poles, the polar circles and the tropics, each with its own climate: zonă temperată, zonă ecuatorială.^[3][2]
2. (astronomy) Each of the parts of the sky that match the zones of the earth.^[3]
3. An area or part of a larger whole marked off by its features, by special circumstances or by a given use: zonă de influență “sphere of influence”, zonă liberă “free zone”.^[3][2]
4. (geometry) The part of the surface of a sphere between two parallel planes.^[3]
5. (physics) A frequency band whose oscillations share certain features.^[3]

Related words

• French zone
• Ancient Greek ζώνη (zṓnē)

Usage notes

MDA2 and the DLR also list an older zonă as a variant of zoană.^[2][12] The name of the disease shingles, zona zoster, is a separate loan of French zona and zoster.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1582
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. 1227
4. ^ 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. zónă
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1444
8. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 719
9. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. zonă
10. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. zonă
11. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. zónă
12. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. zónă