agendă

Forms

agendă f (plural agende)^[1] DELR records the variant agenda, closer to the French form.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French agenda, and at the same time, as a learned loan, borrowed from Latin agenda (“things to be done”).^[2][3][1] DELR, DEX and MDN give both sources, MDA2 and NODEX only the Latin, and DN names French and Italian agenda.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][1]} The Latin word is the neuter plural of the gerundive of agō (“to drive, to act”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1851, in Stamati's dictionary, with the sense of a notebook in which planned tasks are written down day by day.^[2] MDA2 cites only the DA of 1913.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the notebook with calendar pages;^[8][3] Barcianu in 1886 glosses it with German Agende and Denkbuch.^[8][3] The second sense is the order of the day of a meeting, as in agenda conferinței “the agenda of the conference”.^[9][6] NODEX adds a handbook of practical guidance in a field, agenda inginerului “the engineer's handbook”.^[6] Since the 1970s the press has used it figuratively for a list of subjects or tasks to be dealt with, after English agenda, and agendă ascunsă “hidden agenda” is a calque of the English phrase.^[10]

Timeline

• 1851 – agendă “notebook of planned tasks” in Stamati's dictionary.^[2]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German Agende.^[8]
• 1913 – in the DA, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1974 – the figurative sense “list of tasks or topics” in the press.^[10]
• 2006 – agendă ascunsă “hidden agenda” in the press.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A diary or planner: a notebook in which one writes down the tasks to be done on given days.^[3][5][1]
2. An agenda, the order of the day of a meeting.^[3][5]
3. (figurative) A list of subjects, aims or tasks to be dealt with;^[10][1] agendă ascunsă “hidden agenda”.^[10][1]

Related words

• agent
• French agenda
• Latin agō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. agendă
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 20
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. agendă
5. ^ 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, 27
6. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. agendă
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. agendă
8. ^ a b c Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 13
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 40
10. ^ a b c d e Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. agendă