curent

Forms

curent m or n (feminine singular curentă, masculine plural curenți, feminine/neuter plural curente)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French courant (“running; current”), the present participle of courir (“to run; to be under way”), which goes back to Latin currō (“to run”); the Romanian form follows currēns (“running”).^[2] Wiktionary gives French and Latin as joint sources,^[1] while MDA2, Tiktin and the DA name French alone.^[3][4][5] Scriban put the Latin participle first and French second.^[6] The variant corent comes from Italian corrente.^[2]

DELR treats the word as three borrowings of one French word: the adjective, recorded from 1792; the masculine noun “a flow of a fluid; an electric current”, a noun use of the French adjective recorded from 1852; and the neuter noun “a current of ideas”, a figurative use of the French word, “flow”, recorded from 1875.^[2] The French word is from Old French courant, from the Latin participle.^[1] Graur counts the word among the learned descendants of the Latin verb, beside the inherited curge and curând.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is of 1792, in Eustatievici, in the Italian-shaped form corent.^[2] Tiktin also dates the word to 1792.^[4] MDA2's first record is a document of before 1817 in the Uricariul, where clerks are to write the „hârtiile curente” “the day-to-day papers”: the sense is “current, of every day”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant “running, current”: the current year or month, the papers and business of the day, prices of the moment and money in circulation.^[5][4][8] From “flowing” came the sense “fluent” for speech and writing, and in the old language “cursive” for handwriting.^[2][5] Apă curentă “running water” is now the supply piped into a home.^[8]

The masculine noun, “a current of air or water” and “an electric current”, is recorded from 1852, first in the variant curant.^[2] Tiktin notes the everyday e curent aici “there is a draught here”.^[4] The neuter noun “a current of ideas, a trend” appears in Maiorescu in 1875.^[2] A fi la curent “to be up to date, well informed” and a pune la curent “to inform” are built on it.^[4][9]

Two verbs share the spelling curenta: one, “to give or get an electric shock”, is recorded from 1937 in Arghezi; the other, an old Transylvanian word “to search for someone with an arrest warrant; to try in absence”, is from 1886 and was borrowed from German kurrentieren.^[2]

Timeline

• 1792 – corent “current”, in Eustatievici, the first record.^[2][4]
• before 1817 – hârtiile curente “the day-to-day papers” in a document of the Uricariul.^[3][5]
• 1812 – curentălui, an old Transylvanian verb from German.^[2]
• 1852 – the masculine noun “current of a fluid”, as curant.^[2]
• 1875 – the neuter noun “current of ideas”, in Maiorescu.^[2]
• 1900 – extracurent “extra current”, from French.^[2]
• 1906 – contracurent “countercurrent”.^[2]
• 1937 – curenta “to give an electric shock”, in Arghezi.^[2]
• 1962 – curentometru “current meter”, from French.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of speech) Flowing, fluent.^[8][3]
2. (of a year or month) current, in progress; daily, of every day: lucrări curente “routine work”, cont curent “current account”.^[8][3]
3. (of prices) Prevailing at a given time; in circulation, usual: monedă curentă “legal tender”, o expresie curentă “a common expression”.^[8]
4. apă curentă: running water, a piped supply of drinking water in a home.^[8][3]

Noun

1. (masculine) A movement of air from one place to another, a draught; also curent de aer.^[8][1]
2. (masculine) The flow of water down a slope: curent marin “ocean current”.^[8]
3. (masculine) An electric current; also curent electric.^[8][3]
4. (neuter) A body of ideas or tastes shared by many at a given time, a trend or movement: un curent literar “a literary movement”.^[10][1]

Word family

• biocurent
• contracurent
• curentometru
• extracurent
• microcurent
• supracurent

Related words

• curge
• curs
• curând
• concurent
• French courant

Usage notes

The two nouns have different plurals: curenți for currents of air, water and electricity, curente for currents of thought.^[1] MDA2 also records a rare neuter curenturi.^[3][1] Set phrases include a fi la curent (cu ceva) “to be informed (about something)” and a pune pe cineva la curent “to bring someone up to date”.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. curent
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 580
4. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. curent
5. ^ a b c d e 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. curent
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 381
7. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 35
8. ^ 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. 263
9. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. curent
10. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. curent