diagnostic

Forms

diagnostic n (plural diagnostice)^[1] Besides the plural diagnostice a rarer diagnosticuri is used, and an obsolete feminine diagnostică is recorded.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French diagnostic, the source DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Wiktionary give.^[4][2][5][1] DELR and Tiktin add the French adjective diagnostique, and Scriban derives the word straight from Greek.^[6][7][3] The French words go back to Ancient Greek διαγνωστικός (diagnōstikós, “able to discern”), from διαγιγνώσκω (diagignṓskō, “to distinguish, recognize”), formed from δια- (dia-) and γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1831, in a pamphlet of advice against cholera, in the medical sense.^[6] MDA2 dates it to 1836 and Tiktin to 1840, when it is both an adjective, “diagnostic”, and a noun, “diagnosis”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word was an adjective as well: Costinescu in 1870 and Barcianu in 1886 define it as said of the signs that show the nature of a disease.^[8][9] The noun, the identification of a disease from its symptoms, became the usual sense, often with the verb a pune: a pune un diagnostic.^[10][4] By extension it means an assessment of a situation or a forecast drawn from signs, and in computing a method of finding errors in a program or faults in a machine.^[6][2][11]

Timeline

• 1831 – diagnostic in a pamphlet on cholera, the first record.^[6]
• 1836 – diagnosis, the first form of diagnoză.^[6]
• 1881 – the verb diagnostica in Contemporanul.^[6]
• 1900 – citodiagnostic in the journal Spitalul.^[6]
• 1926 – diagnostician in Teodoreanu.^[6]
• 1971 – autodiagnostica “to diagnose oneself”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) diagnosis: the identification of a disease from clinical data and laboratory tests; diagnoză.^[4][2][1]
2. (figurative) An assessment of a situation; a forecast drawn from certain signs.^[2][12]
3. (computing) A method of detecting and correcting errors in a program or faults in a computer.^[2][11]

Adjective

1. Used in or allowing diagnosis: teste diagnostice.^[6][3]

Word family

• diagnostica
• diagnostician
• autodiagnostica
• citodiagnostic

Related words

• diagnoză
• French diagnostic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 704
3. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 422
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 311
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. diagnostic
6. ^ 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. diagnostic
7. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. diagnostic
8. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 334
9. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 185
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 106
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. diagnostic
12. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. diagnostic