chimie

Forms

chimie f (uncountable)^[1] DELR records the variants chemie and hemie, from German, himie and hímie, from Modern Greek, and șimie.^[2] Scriban gives himie as rare.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French chimie, with New Latin chimia as a second model in DEX, DELR and Marcu's MDN.^[4][2][5] Tiktin and the DLRM name French, Wiktionary Latin alone.^[6][7][1] DELR takes the variants with /e/ from German Chemie and the form with /h/ from Modern Greek χημεία (chimeía).^[2] Ciorănescu sees in it the Greek word of the 18th century, first pronounced as in Modern Greek and later with the sounds of the Erasmian pronunciation.^[8]

The Medieval Latin word is from Byzantine Greek χημεία (khēmeía), also written χυμεία (khumeía) after Ancient Greek χυμός (khumós, “juice”).^[2][3] DELR follows the view that the Greek word comes from a Coptic name of Egypt, “the black land”, so that it first meant “the Egyptian art”.^[2] The DHLF calls this origin the more plausible one and notes that the Latin word is a doublet of alchimia, which passed through Arabic.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1770.^[6] DELR's first record is of 1813, in the form hemie.^[2] The adjective chimicesc is already recorded in 1760–1770.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word came in at the end of the 18th century in several forms: chimică “chemistry” and chimic “chemist” around 1790 from Italian, and the German forms with /e/ in Transylvania.^[2][10] The French form prevailed in the 19th century.^[6][7] Barcianu (1886) already lists chimie anorganică and organică.^[11] Compounds name the newer branches: electrochimie (1871), agrochimie (1955), citochimie (1978).^[2]

Timeline

• 1760–1770 – the adjective chimicesc, with the variant himicesc.^[2]
• 1770 – first record of chimie.^[6]
• c. 1790 – chimică “chemistry” and chimic “chemist”, from Italian.^[2]
• 1813 – hemie.^[2]
• 1829 – chimist “chemist”.^[2]
• 1830 – the adjective chimic.^[2]
• 1871 – electrochimie.^[2]
• 1955 – agrochimie.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. chemistry: the science of the composition, structure, properties and transformations of substances.^[4][1]
2. In set phrases, a branch of that science: chimie organică (the chemistry of carbon compounds), chimie anorganică or minerală, chimie fizică, chimie nucleară.^[10][5]

Word family

• agrochimie
• chimic
• chimicale
• chimism
• chimist
• chimiza
• chimizare
• citochimie
• electrochimic

Related words

• alchimie

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 l m n o p 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. chimie
3. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 269
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 178
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. chimie
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. chimie
7. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 139
8. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. chimie
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. chimie
10. ^ 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, 380
11. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 100