atmosferă

Forms

atmosferă f (plural atmosfere)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French atmosphère according to DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary, a learned word with several models.^[2][3][1] DELR puts first New Latin atmosphaera and adds that it also came in through Modern Greek ατμόσφαιρα (atmósfaira), German Atmosphäre, Italian atmosfera and French.^[4] Tiktin gives Greek and Latin, and the neologism dictionaries name French and Italian.^[5][6]

The New Latin word was coined in 1608 by the Dutch astronomer Willebrord Snellius from Ancient Greek ἀτμός (atmós, “steam, vapour”) and σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”), to translate Dutch dampcloot (“sphere of vapours”), a term of Simon Stevin's for the layer around the Earth.^[4] DHLF dates the French compound to 1655 and calls the origin of the first Greek element uncertain.^[7] Wiktionary also reads the Romanian word as atmo- and sferă by surface analysis.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is Gherasim Putneanul's Gheografie of 1770–1780, and Tiktin dates the word to about 1780.^[4][5] The sense was the gaseous envelope around the Earth; the DA's definition from Poni's physics calls it the mass of air that surrounds the Earth on every side.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word narrowed to the air one breathes in a given place: Negruzzi wakes in an atmosphere “thick and heavy”.^[8] MDA2 dates the word by this text, in the 1872 edition of Negruzzi's writings.^[3] The figurative senses, the social surroundings in which someone lives and the mood that forms around a person or thing, follow in the DA and later dictionaries.^[8][2] The phrase a face atmosferă means to create a certain mood about someone, favourable or not.^[9][10]

Physics gave the word a second sense, a unit of pressure equal to the weight of a column of mercury 76 cm high, already in Scriban.^[10][2] Chemistry uses it for the mass of gases in a space where reactions take place.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1770–1780 – the first record, in Gherasim Putneanul's Gheografie.^[4]
• c. 1780 – Tiktin's date for the word.^[5]
• 1811 – the adjective atmosfericesc in Greceanu;^[4] atmosferic follows in 1813 in Maior.^[4]
• 1872 – “the air one breathes” in the edition of Negruzzi's writings.^[3][8]
• 1939 – Scriban records the unit of pressure and the phrase a face atmosferă.^[10]
• 1966 – extraatmosferic “outside the Earth's atmosphere”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The gaseous envelope around the Earth or another celestial body; the air, especially the air someone breathes.^[2][4][1]
2. (figurative) The social surroundings of a person; ambianță.^[2][3]
3. (figurative) The mood that forms around someone or something: o atmosferă apăsătoare “an oppressive atmosphere”.^[2][12]
4. (chemistry) The mass of gases and vapours in a space where chemical reactions take place.^[2][11]
5. (physics) A unit of pressure of gases, the weight of a column of mercury 76 cm high.^[2][3]

Word family

• atmosferic
• extraatmosferic

Related words

• sferă

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 72
3. ^ 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, 124
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. atmosferă
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. atmosferă
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. atmosferă
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d 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. atmosferă
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 52
10. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 135
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. atmosferă
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. atmosferă