constant

Forms

constant m or n (feminine singular constantă, masculine plural constanți, feminine/neuter plural constante)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing of the late 18th and 19th centuries, borrowed from Latin cōnstāns (“steadfast, unchanging”), borrowed from French constant: DELR gives both sources, and so do DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin names only French, Wiktionary takes it from French, and Scriban from Latin alone.^[6][1][7] The Latin adjective is the present participle of cōnstō (“to stand firm, remain unchanged”), formed from Latin con- + stō (“to stand”).^[2][8][9] The French word was borrowed from Latin around 1265.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1799, when Paul Iorgovici put the form constante in a list of new words he proposed for Romanian.^[2] The form constant appears about 1832 in Iordache Golescu.^[2] Tiktin glosses it “steady”, of quantities, and “steadfast, persevering”, of people.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word first described what stays the same, and of people what is steadfast and faithful; Șăineanu still gives “steadfast, persevering” as its first sense and “unchanging” as a figurative one.^[11][4] Costinescu in 1870 already had vânturi constante “winds that blow in one direction”, after French vents constants.^[12] The mathematical cantitate constantă “constant quantity” is recorded by Tiktin and CADE, and the feminine constantă became a noun, “a constant”, in mathematics and physics, as in French constante.^[6][13][2] Economics added capital constant “constant capital”.^[3][4] The opposites inconstant and neconstant are recorded from 1848.^[2]

Timeline

• 1799 – constante, and the noun constanție “constancy”, in Iorgovici's list of proposed new words.^[2]
• c. 1832 – the form constant in Iordache Golescu.^[2]
• 1847 – inconstanță “inconstancy” in Heliade-Rădulescu.^[2]
• 1848 – inconstant, neconstant and neconstanță in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[2]
• 1870 – vânturi constante “constant winds” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[12]
• 1931 – CADE records the noun constantă “constant” of mathematics and physics.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. constant, unchanging: staying the same; invariable, steady: temperatură constantă.^[3][4]
2. (of people) Steadfast and faithful in one's convictions or feelings: un prieten constant.^[14][4][11]
3. (economics) capital constant: the part of capital invested in the means of production, whose value does not change in production.^[3][4]
4. (geography) vânturi constante: winds that blow in the same direction all year.^[4][15]

Noun

1. (feminine constantă, mathematics) A quantity whose value does not change.^[3][5]
2. (feminine constantă) A quantity characteristic of a phenomenon, an instrument or a substance: constanta gravitațională.^[3][4]

Adverb

1. constantly, always.^[4][6]

Word family

• constanță
• inconstant
• inconstanță
• neconstant

Related words

• Latin cōnstāns
• French constant

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. constant
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 224
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 490
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. constant
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. constant
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 336
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 161
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 238
13. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. constant
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. constant
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 527