amprentă

Forms

amprentă f (plural amprente)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French empreinte (“imprint”), the feminine past participle of empreindre (“to imprint, stamp”) used as a noun.^[2][3][4][1] The French verb comes from Latin imprimō (“to press into, imprint”), formed on in- and premō (“to press”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to about 1860, in Hasdeu, with the sense of the image of an object pressed into a surface.^[2] MDA2's first record is from 1934, in Adevărul literar și artistic.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word names an image left by pressing an object into a soft surface, and in particular the marks of the fingers used to identify a person, amprente digitale.^[2][4] Medicine uses it for a dental impression, a cast of the jaw for making dentures.^[2][5] The figurative sense, the mark left by an idea, a state of mind or an influence, is in the dictionaries of the 1950s.^[6][7]

Newer phrases are amprentă vocală “voiceprint”, amprentă genetică “genetic fingerprint”, recorded in the press in 1999, and amprentă electronică for an electronic signature, from 2010.^[4][8] The verb amprenta is recorded from 1969 and amprentologie “the study of fingerprints” from 1966, the latter from French empreintologie.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1860 – in Hasdeu, the first record.^[2]
• 1934 – in Adevărul literar și artistic, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1966 – amprentologie “the study of fingerprints”.^[2]
• 1969 – the verb amprenta, in the form amprentare.^[2]
• 1999 – amprentă genetică “genetic fingerprint” in the press.^[8]
• 2010 – amprentă electronică “electronic signature”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An imprint: an image or mark left by pressing an object into a soft surface.^[4][3]
2. (chiefly plural) amprente digitale: fingerprints, the marks of the skin ridges on the fingertips, used to identify a person.^[4][3][1]
3. (medicine) A dental impression: a cast of the jaw or part of it, used to make dentures.^[5][2]
4. amprentă vocală: a voiceprint, the set of vocal features peculiar to a person.^[4][3]
5. (figurative) A mark or trace left by an idea, a state of mind or an influence: romanul poartă amprenta epocii “the novel bears the stamp of its time”.^[4][9]

Word family

• amprentologie
• amprenta

Related words

• imprima
• French empreinte

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. amprentă
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, 57
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 38
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. amprentă
6. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 82
7. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 27
8. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. amprentă
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. amprentă