efort

Forms

efort n (plural eforturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French effort, as DELR, MDA2, DEX and the DLR agree.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The French noun was formed on s’efforcer (“to strive”), from forcer (“to use force”), which goes back to Vulgar Latin *fortiō, from Late Latin fortia (“force”) and in the end fortis (“strong”).^[2] Wiktionary traces the French word to Old French esfort, from esforcier, and compares Italian sforzo and Spanish esfuerzo.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and MDA2 date the first record to 1862, in G. M. Antonescu's Dicționar rumân, with the sense of a deliberate straining of one's physical, intellectual or mental powers to reach a goal.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word spread slowly: CADE (1931) glosses it with the native sforțare, silință and străduință, and Scriban still marked it a barbarism in 1939.^[6][7] The DLR's examples show it with words of the kind, nature or aim of the effort, and the DLRLC records a face or a depune un efort “to make an effort” and minimul efort “the least effort”.^[5][8] Physics and engineering use it for the internal force in a section of a deformable body caused by an outside load.^[2][9] Supraefort “excessive effort” is recorded from 1925.^[2]

Timeline

• 1862 – the first record, in Antonescu's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 1925 – supraefort in the newspaper Cuvântul.^[2]
• 1939 – Scriban calls the word a barbarism for sforțare.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An effort: the mobilising of one's physical or mental powers to do more than usual or to overcome a difficulty; strădanie, străduință.^[4][3][1]
2. (physics) The resultant of the internal forces in a section of a deformable body, caused by outside loads, heat and the like; stress.^[4][2]

Word family

• supraefort

Related words

• forță
• sforța

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. efort
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 791
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 344
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. efort
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. efort
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 461
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 200
9. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. efort