complex

Forms

complex m or n (feminine singular complexă, masculine plural complecși, feminine/neuter plural complexe)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French complexe, with Latin complexus as a second model.^[2][3][4][1] DELR, Tiktin, MDA2 and NODEX name both languages, while DELR and the DA give the French word as the immediate source.^[2][5][6][7] The Latin adjective is the past participle of complector (“to embrace, take in”), formed with com- on plectō (“to plait”).^[2][7][8] French took it from Latin in the 14th century.^[8]

The noun has two sources of its own: the sense “whole made of several parts” is again the French word, and the psychological sense is the French word and German Komplex, a term DELR attributes to the German physician J. Breuer.^[2] In French, the psychoanalytic sense is itself a calque of the German word.^[8] Graur groups the word with complica, perplex and simplu, all going back to the Latin verb.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1814, in a text of Gheorghe Asachi;^[3] DELR's first record is Asachi's algebra of 1818, where the adjective means “made of several parts or elements”.^[5][2] MDA2's first record is later, Hasdeu's Istoria critică a românilor of 1875.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first uses are mathematical and learned: Romanian dictionaries of the late 19th and early 20th centuries define număr complex as a number made up of units of different kinds, such as a period given in days, hours and minutes.^[10][11][12] Modern mathematics uses the phrase for the sum of a real and an imaginary number.^[4] Grammar used frază complexă for a sentence made of several clauses.^[12][5]

As a noun the word first meant a whole made of diverse parts, recorded from 1871 in Laurian and Massim's dictionary.^[2] It also came to name a group of buildings or units serving one purpose, as in complex sportiv “sports complex”.^[4][13] The psychological sense, a set of largely unconscious memories and tendencies that shape behaviour, is recorded from 1935, in Lucian Blaga; with it came complex de inferioritate “inferiority complex” and the adjective complexat “held back by a complex”, recorded from 1975.^[2][4] The two noun senses differ in their plural: complexuri for groups of units, complexe for the psychological complex.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1814 – the adjective in a text of Gheorghe Asachi.^[5]
• 1818 – “made of several parts” in Asachi's algebra.^[2]
• 1844 – complecție, the earliest form of complexiune.^[2]
• 1846 – complexitate, in the spelling complessitate, in Laurian.^[2]
• 1871 – the noun “whole made of several parts” in Laurian and Massim's dictionary.^[2]
• 1875 – the noun in Hasdeu's Istoria critică.^[3][7]
• 1935 – the psychological sense, in Lucian Blaga.^[2]
• 1975 – complexat “acting under a complex”, in the first DEX.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. complex: made of several parts; bringing together several different sides or elements: o problemă complexă “a complex problem”.^[4][6]
2. (mathematics) număr complex: a complex number, the sum of a real and an imaginary number.^[4][3]

Noun

1. A whole made of several parts or elements; a system combining several fields or phenomena.^[4]
2. A group of buildings or of industrial, commercial or other units, grouped in one place and serving one purpose;^[4][3] complex sportiv: a sports complex.^[4][3]
3. (psychology) A set of mostly unconscious tendencies and memories formed in childhood that shape later behaviour;^[4][3] complex de inferioritate: an inferiority complex;^[4][3] complexul lui Oedip: the Oedipus complex.^[4][3]

Word family

• complexat
• complexitate

Related words

• complica
• perplex
• Latin complexus

Usage notes

The adjective has the plurals complecși and complexe; the noun has complexe, and complexuri for groups of buildings or units.^[3][4]

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 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. complex
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 474
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 213
5. ^ 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. complex
6. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. complex
7. ^ a b c 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. complex
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 76
10. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 222
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 153
12. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. complex
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 506