determina

Forms

determina (third-person singular present determină, past participle determinat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French déterminer and a learned borrowed from Latin dētermino (“to bound, limit”), a neologism of the late 18th century.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin names Latin alone, and the neologism dictionaries add Italian determinare as a model.^[5][6] The Latin verb is formed dē- + termino (“to set a boundary”), from terminus (“boundary stone, boundary”).^[2] The French verb was borrowed from Latin in 1119.^[7] The same Latin family gave the inherited țărm and the neologisms termen, termina and extermina.^[8] An old rare variant was ⟨determinarisi⟩, with the Greek-type verb suffix.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1781, in a work of Micu;^[5][2][4] DELR and MDA2 date it to 1794, in the calendar printed at Vienna.^[5][2][4] The early sense is “to fix, establish precisely”: in 1840 a treaty was said to have determined the borders of Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 still glossed it with the native a hotărî, a decide.^[10] From “to fix, establish” the verb developed the sense “to make someone decide” and “to cause, produce”, as in French.^[11][7] Grammar uses it for a word that narrows the meaning of another, science for identifying a plant or measuring a quantity.^[3][12] In present-day use the causal sense comes first in the dictionaries.^[3]

The family includes determinabil (1871) and autodetermina (1925), modelled on French and German.^[2]

Timeline

• 1781 – first record, in a work of Micu.^[5]
• 1794 – in the Vienna calendar.^[2][4]
• 1840 – “to fix (borders)”.^[9]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1871 – determinabil.^[2]
• 1921 – autodeterminare “self-determination”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cause, to condition: to be the cause of a fact or phenomenon.^[3][1]
2. To fix or establish precisely a date, a term; to identify the features of a body, plant or phenomenon; to calculate from data.^[3][4]
3. To make someone take a decision; to persuade.^[3][4]
4. (grammar) Of a word or clause: to specify the meaning of another.^[3]

Word family

• autodetermina
• autodeterminare
• determinabil
• determinant
• determinare
• determinat
• determinativ
• determinație
• determinism
• indeterminabil
• indeterminism
• predetermina

Usage notes

The present is stressed detérmin, detérmină; older usage also had determín and determinez.^[3][6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. determina
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 303
4. ^ 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, 682
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. determina
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. determina
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. déterminer
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. determina
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. determinare
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 206
12. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. determina