agresiune

Forms

agresiune f (plural agresiuni)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French agression and, as a learned word, borrowed from Latin aggressiō (“an attack”).^[2][3][4] Tiktin and Wiktionary name only the French noun,^[5][1] while Scriban gave only the Latin one.^[6] DN also compares Italian aggressione.^[7] The French word is itself a learned borrowing from the Latin.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed on aggredior (“to approach, to attack”),^[2][8] a compound of ad- and gradior (“to step, to walk”).^[2] In Latin it meant an attack and, in rhetoric, the opening of a speech.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1836.^[2][5] The sense was an attack on someone;^[5] Tiktin glosses it with German Angriff.^[5] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870, which spells it agressiune, explains it as the deed of whoever attacks first and starts the quarrel.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Șăineanu and CADE still defined the word as an unprovoked attack on a person.^[11][12] The dictionaries of the 1950s added the armed attack of one or more states on another country, which they described as the work of imperialist states.^[13][14] DEX 2009 keeps the phrase agresiune armată “armed aggression” without that framing.^[4] MDN adds an attack on people or property and a biological sense: an outside action that endangers the balance of a living system.^[15]

The negative neagresiune “non-aggression”, a term of international relations, is recorded from 1922;^[2] DELR forms it with ne- after French non-agression.^[2]

Timeline

• 1836 – the first record.^[2][5]
• 1840 – the related agresa “to attack”, agresiv “aggressive” and agresor “aggressor”, all taken from French.^[2]
• 1870 – agressiune in Costinescu's dictionary.^[10]
• 1922 – neagresiune “non-aggression”.^[2]
• 1926 – agresivitate “aggressiveness”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An attack, especially an unprovoked one, against a person or a state.^[4][3]
2. aggression in international law: the armed attack of a state or coalition on another state's territory or independence;^[4][7] agresiune armată “armed aggression”.^[4][7]
3. An attack on people or their property.^[15]
4. (biology) An outside action that endangers the balance and integrity of a living organism.^[15]

Word family

• neagresiune

Related words

• agresiv
• agresor
• agresa
• Latin aggressiō

Usage notes

The word is pronounced with the syllables -si-u-.^[4] DELR records an old, rare variant agresie.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. agresiune
3. ^ 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, 29
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 22
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. agresiune
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 80
7. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 27
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 13
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. agresiune
13. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 15
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 44
15. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual