dimensiune

Forms

dimensiune f (plural dimensiuni)^[1] The first records have dimensie: Asachi wrote that volume „să poate prețui în trei feliuri generale, în altfel numite în trii dimensii” “can be measured in three general ways, otherwise called three dimensions”.^[2][3] A form dimenziune, after German, appears in Apolzan: „tăiată în mărime (dimenziune) regulată” “cut to a regular size (dimension)”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French dimension, also borrowed from Latin dīmensiō (“measuring; dimension”).^[4][5][2][1] DELR puts the Latin word first.^[3] Tiktin and Wiktionary give French alone, and Scriban Latin alone.^[3][6][7] The variant spelled with ⟨z⟩ follows German Dimension.^[3] The Latin noun is formed on dīmētior (“to measure out”), from dis- and mētior (“to measure”).^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1830.^[6] MDA2's first record is Gheorghe Asachi's mathematics textbook of 1836, which speaks of the three dimensii of a solid, and DELR's is Petrache Poenaru's of 1837, also in the form dimensie.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word entered with the mathematics and physics textbooks of the 1830s and 1840s, for the length, width and height of a body.^[2] It was soon used of size and proportion in general: Scriban notes that a war could take on huge dimensions, and Gherea wrote of a peasant wedding enlarged to epic dimensions.^[7][9] The familiar phrase a patra dimensiune “the fourth dimension” means something impossible or not yet conceived, as in Coșbuc's line on a wheel that was the fourth dimension to a dull boy.^[9][4] In the 20th century the word gave dimensiona (1927), dimensional (1928) and bidimensional (1920).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1830 – first record.^[6]
• 1836 – dimensii in Asachi's mathematics textbook.^[5][2]
• 1837 – dimensie in Petrache Poenaru's textbook.^[3]
• 1920 – bidimensional.^[3]
• 1927 – dimensiona “to calculate the dimensions of”.^[3]
• 1928 – dimensional.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dimension: a measurement in one direction (length, width or height) needed to determine the extent of a figure or body;^[4][5] a patra dimensiune (colloquial): something impossible or not yet conceived.^[4][5]
2. (physics) A quantity considered in the relation between its unit and the base units of a system of units.^[4]
3. Size, measure, proportion; importance: criza a luat dimensiuni neașteptate “the crisis took on unexpected proportions”.^[4][5]

Word family

• dimensiona
• dimensional
• multidimensional
• pluridimensional
• redimensiona
• tridimensional
• unidimensional
• bidimensional

Related words

• imens
• măsură
• Latin dīmensiō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dimensiune
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. dimensiune
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 315
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 715
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. dimensiune
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 427
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 116