criză

Forms

criză f (plural crize)^[1] The first records have the Greek and Latin form crisis;^[2][3][4] Polizu's dictionary still gives it.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French crise, first a medical term.^[2][5][1] The French word is from Latin crisis (“decisive stage of an illness”), from Ancient Greek κρίσις (krísis, “decision”), from κρίνω (krínō, “to separate, decide”).^[2][4][6] The early variant ⟨crisis⟩ is from New Latin crisis and Modern Greek κρίσις (krísis).^[2] MDA2 and Tiktin also name Latin and Greek beside French.^[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1813, the form crisis in a manifesto.^[2][3] MDA2 dates criză to Maiorescu's Critice (1867), where passion ends in „o criză intelectuală și fizică” “an intellectual and physical crisis”.^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

As in French, the medical sense came first: the turning point of an illness, after which it gets better or worse.^[2][6] Stamati defined it as nature's effort to bring about a quick change in a disease.^[4] It was extended to sudden fits, the criză de nervi “fit of nerves”, and to moments of mental strain.^[4][7]

Applied to society, it named a dangerous, decisive moment: Russo speaks of three crises in Romanian life.^[4] Economics made it a slump in trade and finance, the criză economică, and politics the criză ministerială or de guvern, the time between a government's fall and the next one.^[4][8][9] It also came to mean an acute shortage of goods, money or time.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1813 – crisis in a manifesto, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1867 – criză in Maiorescu's Critice.^[7][4]
• 1900 – epicrisă, the medical summary of an illness.^[2]
• 1962 – anticriză “against a crisis”.^[2]
• 1998 – the verb criza “to have a fit of nerves”, in slang.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A phase of great difficulty in a society, economic, political or social; a period of tension and upheaval: criză economică “economic crisis”.^[5][7][1]
2. An acute shortage of goods, time or labour.^[5][7]
3. (medicine) The critical point of an illness, before recovery or worsening; a sudden attack: criză de apendicită “an attack of appendicitis”.^[5][7]
4. A moment of emotional strain or depression: criză de nervi “fit of nerves”.^[5][4]

Word family

• anticriză
• criza

Related words

• critic
• epicriză
• Ancient Greek κρίσις (krísis)

Usage notes

Criză de guvern is the time after a government resigns and before a new one is formed.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. criză
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. criză
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. criză
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 251
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. crise
7. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 553
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. criză
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. criză
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. criză