act

Forms

act n (plural acte)^[1] An older plural acturi occurs in Kogălniceanu's Arhiva: „În lipsă de acturi mai autentice, l-am copiat întocmai” “for want of more authentic documents, I copied it exactly”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French acte, with Latin actum (“deed”) as a second model, a neologism of the late 18th century.^[4][3][5] Ciorănescu and Wiktionary give French alone,^[6][1] while Tiktin, Scriban and the DN put the Latin first: Scriban and the DN name actus (“action”) for some senses.^[7][8][9] DELR explains the senses from both Latin words: the plural acta meant the proceedings of an authority such as the senate, hence “official document”, and the noun Scriban names was also an act of a play.^[4] Both are formed on agō (“to drive, to act”), the neuter participle of that verb being the source of the noun.^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1783, from a document published in the Buletinul Comisiei Istorice;^[7][4] DELR's first record is of 1787.^[7][4] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 gives three senses: a part of a play, a binding written deed, and a deed in general.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word came in with its three senses at once: a deed or action, an official paper, and a division of a play.^[4][7] Legal and administrative phrases followed the French ones: act de acuzare “indictment”, act sub semnătură privată “private agreement”, act de naștere “birth certificate”, actele stării civile “the civil register”.^[7][2] The general sense lives on in a face act de prezență “to show up briefly, out of duty or politeness” and a lua act de ceva “to take note of something”.^[3][5] In everyday speech the plural acte means a person's papers: identity card and documents.^[5]

DELR groups several learned words with it: acta “a collection of documents” (1834–1835), Moldavian actă “file” (1872), actuar “notary, clerk” (1807, from actuarius and German Aktuar) and antract “interval” (1837, from French entracte).^[4]

Timeline

• 1783 – the first record, in a document published in the Buletinul Comisiei Istorice.^[7]
• 1787 – DELR's first record.^[4]
• 1807 – actuar “notary, clerk”.^[4]
• 1834–1835 – acta “collection of documents”.^[4]
• 1837 – antract “interval between two acts”.^[4]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms, as a part of a play, a written deed and a deed.^[11]
• 1872 – actă “file”, in Moldavia.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A document issued by an authority that certifies a fact, an obligation or a person's identity; in the plural, one's papers: act de acuzare “indictment”.^[5][3]
2. An act of human activity: a deed, an action: un act de curaj “an act of courage”.^[5][12]
3. In phrases: a lua act de ceva “to take formal note of something”, a face act de prezență “to put in a brief appearance”.^[5][3]
4. A main division of a play or other dramatic work: o comedie în trei acte “a comedy in three acts”.^[5][3]

Word family

• actuar
• antract

Related words

• acțiune
• activ
• actual
• agent
• Latin actum

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. act
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 11
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. act
5. ^ 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. 10
6. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. act
7. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. act
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 67
9. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. act
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
11. ^ 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. act
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. act