activa

Forms

a activa (third-person singular present activează, past participle activat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French activer.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The French verb is formed from actif (“active”), from Latin activus.^[1] The sense “to switch on, make operational”, of devices and services, follows English to activate.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is of 1833, in the variant activi of Săulescu's grammar; the form activa follows in 1851, in a work of Fătu.^[2] Tiktin also dates the verb to 1833 and glosses it “to pursue, to speed up” (German betreiben, beschleunigen).^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the verb meant to hasten or press on with a piece of work: Antonescu's dictionary of 1875 and Damé's of 1893–1895 gloss it with French activer, hâter, presser.^[8][9] CADE in 1931 still quotes it for speeding up paperwork: „ca să activez lucrarea hârtiilor” “to hurry along the processing of the papers”.^[10] The DA added a medical use, of a substance that quickens a bodily function.^[11]

In the 1950s the intransitive sense “to carry on a sustained activity, to be active” came to the fore, above all of work in a party or organization, and the reflexive a se activa “to enter the active ranks of the army”.^[12][13] Chemistry uses the verb for making a substance more reactive.^[14][15] From about 2000 the press uses it for putting a program, a service or an alarm into operation, after English.^[7] DELR lists the French loans reactiva (1876), inactiva (1903) and dezactiva (1949) beside it.^[2]

Timeline

• 1833 – activi in Săulescu's grammar.^[2][5]
• 1851 – the form activa, in Fătu.^[2]
• 1875 – Antonescu's dictionary glosses it with French activer.^[8]
• 1876 – reactiva in Eminescu.^[2]
• 1949 – dezactiva in the Lexiconul tehnic român.^[2]
• 1955–1957 – the intransitive sense “to be active (in an organization)”.^[12]
• 2000 – “to switch on” of a program, in the press.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To carry on a sustained activity; to be active: A activat zece ani în învățământ.^[3][4]
2. (transitive) To intensify or stimulate an activity or process.^[3][1]
3. (transitive) To put a device, program or service into operation; to switch on, enable.^[7][1]
4. (transitive, chemistry) To make a substance more reactive.^[14][15]
5. (reflexive, military) To enter the active ranks of the army.^[3][6]

Related words

• activ
• activitate
• reactiva
• dezactiva
• inactiva

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 10
4. ^ a b 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. ^ 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. activa
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. activa
7. ^ a b c d Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. activa
8. ^ a b Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 3
9. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. activa
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. activa
11. ^ 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. activa
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 18
13. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 7
14. ^ a b Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 13
15. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. activa