acțiune

Forms

acțiune f (plural acțiuni)^[1] Older variants are acție, acciune, acsie and acsion.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French action; the DELR, DEX 2009, MDA2 and Marcu also name Latin actiō, as a learned borrowing.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin and Wiktionary name only French, and the DA calls it a neologism from French.^[6][1][7] The Latin noun is formed on agō (“to drive, set in motion”).^[2] The old variant acție came from German Aktie, in the sense of a share.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, from 1786, has the variant acție;^[2][6] Tiktin's first record of acțiune is from 1794.^[2][6] The DELR lists among the first senses a deed and a share in a company.^[2] Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 already gives “action, faculty of acting”, “share in an enterprise”, “deed” and “gesture”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word gathered the senses of French action: a deed or activity, the course of events in a play or a story, the effect of a force or substance on something, in law a suit or the act that opens it, and in economics a share in a company's capital.^[2][3] The DA adds physics, where action is equal to reaction, and the orator's gestures.^[7] Set phrases are om de acțiune “a man of action”, a pune în acțiune “to set in motion” and a trece la acțiune “to take action”.^[3][4]

Its family came mostly from French as well: acționar “shareholder” about 1832, from actionnaire, and acționa “to act; to set in motion; to sue” in 1859, from actionner.^[2]

Timeline

• 1786 – the variant acție, the first record.^[2]
• 1794 – acțiune.^[6]
• c. 1832 – acționar “shareholder” in Golescu's Condica.^[2]
• 1859 – acționa “to act, to sue”.^[2]
• 1862 – Pontbriant records the senses “action”, “share” and “deed”.^[8]
• 1867 – in Maiorescu's Critice.^[4]
• 1924 – acționariat “the shareholders”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An activity; a deed done to reach an aim; a military operation; in grammar, what a verb expresses.^[3][4]
2. The plot of a literary work.^[3][2]
3. effect, influence on an object or phenomenon: acțiunea medicamentului “the effect of the medicine”.^[3][6]
4. (law) A lawsuit; the act by which proceedings are opened.^[3][4]
5. (economics) A share: a security representing a fixed part of a company's capital, which entitles its holder to dividends.^[3][2]

Word family

• acționa
• acționar
• acționariat
• inacțiune

Related words

• act
• French action
• Latin actiō

Usage notes

The ending is pronounced in three syllables, -ți-u-ne.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. acțiune
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 10
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 12
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. acțiune
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. acțiune
7. ^ a b Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. acțiune
8. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 9