afecțiune

Forms

afecțiune f (plural afecțiuni)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French affection, with Latin affectiō (“a disposition, a state of mind”) as a second model, a learned loan of the late 18th century: DEX, MDA2, DELR and the neologism dictionaries name both sources, while Wiktionary gives only the French word and Tiktin only the Latin one.^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} The Latin noun is formed on afficiō (“to affect, to influence”) with the suffix -tiō.^[4][7] French took the word from Latin around 1190.^[8]

DELR, Tiktin and the Marcu–Maneca dictionary also record an old variant afecție.^[4][6][9] DELR places the word in the family of afecta, beside afect and afectiv, which came in separately from German, French and Latin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1794, in the form afecciune, in a calendar printed in Vienna.^[4] Tiktin's earliest is from Molnar, in 1800.^[6] The dictionaries of the 19th century already give both the senses “attachment, love” and “illness”: Pontbriant glosses it with French affection, tendresse and maladie.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Like its French model, the word first named any movement of the mind, a feeling or passion, as well as a tender attachment to someone.^[8][11] Costinescu in 1870 explains it as love, friendship and goodwill for a person, under the spelling affecțiune.^[12] Șăineanu and CADE still give the sense “state of the soul moved by something” and, in the plural, the passions or impulses of the soul, which modern dictionaries no longer list.^[11][13]

The medical sense “disease, a morbid state of an organ” is listed from Pontbriant (1862) on and is the second sense in every modern dictionary.^{[10][11][14][2]} The older form afecție was still listed beside afecțiune by Scriban and CADE.^[14][13]

Timeline

• 1794 – afecciune in a calendar printed in Vienna, the first record.^[4]
• 1800 – afecțiune in Molnar.^[6]
• 1862 – Pontbriant gives the senses “affection” and “illness”.^[10]
• 1870 – Costinescu spells it affecțiune.^[12]
• 1873 – the derivative dezafecțiune “loss of affection”, borrowed from French.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. affection, sympathy, friendship or love for someone.^[2][3][15]
2. (medicine) A disease, a pathological state of an organ.^[2][3][5]

Related words

• afecta
• afect
• afectiv
• French affection

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 18
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 23
4. ^ 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. afecta
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. afecțiune
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. afecțiune
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. afecțiune
10. ^ a b c Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 16
11. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 10
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 24
13. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. afecțiune
14. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 76
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. afecțiune