activ

Forms

activ m or n (feminine singular activă, masculine plural activi, feminine/neuter plural active)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French actif, with Latin activus (“active”) as a second source, at first a term of philosophy and grammar.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word, formed on agō (“to act, drive”), was a calque of Ancient Greek πρακτικός (praktikós).^[2] Tiktin and the DA give French alone, Scriban Latin alone.^[5][6][7]

The noun, “assets”, has the same French source.^[2] Its sense “the active members of a party organisation”, common in the communist period, is from Russian актив (aktiv), as DEX 2009, MDA2 and Wikționar say.^[4][3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the adjective to 1785 and Tiktin to 1787.^[2][5] The noun, in the sense “assets”, is first recorded in 1831, in the Organic Regulation of Moldavia.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1848 Negulici explained it as “having the power to work; working zealously, without sloth”, and gave Latin activus beside it.^[9] The sense “hard-working” is recorded in Maiorescu, who urged that the Romanian people be made more educated and more active; the DA also records the military sense “in active service”, the medical medicamente active “strong remedies” and the grammatical verb activ “transitive verb”.^[6][3] Grammar sets activ against pasiv, and so does bookkeeping, where activul is what one owns and pasivul what one owes.^[7][10]

In the communist period activul de partid was the group of party members who supported a party body in its work;^[11][12][4] DEX 2009 marks the sense as out of use.^[11][12][4] In criminal slang activ is a long police record.^[13]

Timeline

• 1785 – the adjective, the first record.^[2]
• 1787 – the adjective in Tiktin's first record.^[5]
• 1831 – the noun “assets”, in the Organic Regulation of Moldavia.^[2]
• 1833 – the verb activi, later activa (1851).^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1884 – activist and activism in Slavici.^[2]
• 1949 – dezactiva.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Taking an effective part in an action; hard-working, energetic: populație activă “the working population”; of soldiers, in active service.^[4][3][1]
2. Of bodies or substances: producing an effect, often a strong one; in chemistry, corp activ is a body that enters into reactions easily.^[4][14]
3. (grammar) Of the voice of a verb: showing that the subject performs the action; of vocabulary: in frequent use.^[4][2]
4. Of economic operations and budgets: with more income than expenditure; of accounts: recording an item of the assets.^[4]

Noun

1. The assets: all the property of a person or company; in accounting, the resources of a firm expected to bring future benefits.^[4][3][1]
2. In the phrases a avea ceva la activul său “to have done something (bad)” and a pune ceva la activul cuiva “to lay something at someone's door”.^[4][3]
3. (dated) The active members of a political or public organisation in the communist period.^[4][11]

Word family

• activa
• activator
• activism
• activist
• activitate
• activiza
• dezactiva
• hiperactiv
• inactiv

Related words

• act
• pasiv

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. activ
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 DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 10
5. ^ 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. activ
6. ^ 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. activ
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 67
8. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
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. activ
10. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 1
11. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 18
12. ^ a b Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 13
13. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. activ
14. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. activ