energie

Forms

energie f (plural energii)^[1] The older form energhie (stressed enérghie in Cantemir) is common until the mid-19th century: Ion Budai-Deleanu writes „Apoi fără energhie rămasă” “then left without energy”.^[2][3] Heliade-Rădulescu's grammar of 1828 argues for the new form: „trebuie să zicem «patriotism... geografie, energie»” “we must say patriotism, geography, energy”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French énergie, borrowed from New Latin energia (“force in action, activity, efficacy”) as well, as DELR gives it;^[3][4][5] DEX gives the same two sources, and MDA2 adds Italian energia, Modern Greek and German.^[3][4][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia), Aristotle's term for activity, actuality, as opposed to δύναμις (dúnamis, “potentiality”); it comes from ἐνεργής (energḗs, “active, effective”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) and ἔργον (érgon, “work, deed”).^[3][1]

The old variant enérghie comes from Modern Greek ενέργεια (enérgeia), and the same form stressed on its third syllable comes from the New Latin word and German Energie.^[3] Ciorănescu also takes the 18th-century word from Greek, after Gáldi, and the modern one from French.^[6] The sense in physics first appeared in English energy, with Thomas Young, and was fixed by William Thomson in 1850; the everyday senses in Romanian, as in the other modern languages, rest on it.^[3] DELR dates Young's use to 1802, Pfeifer to 1807.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dimitrie Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1705), as enérghie, with the sense “effect, efficacy”: „luând energhiile a le opri” “taking away their force to stop them”.^[3][2][8] The form energie appears in 1828, in Heliade-Rădulescu's grammar.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the early 19th century the word meant vigour, force and resolve, of a person or of a people: in 1829 a writer is spurred on „a urma cu mai multă energhie” “to go on with more energy”.^[2] Negulici in 1848 glosses it as power, virtue and courage, and Costinescu in 1870 speaks of the energy of the soul, of a remedy and of the muscles.^[9][10] The physical sense, the capacity of a system to do work, is in CADE in 1931, and later dictionaries put it first.^[11][4] In the plural the word names the physical or moral resources at someone's disposal.^[5]

Timeline

• 1705 – enérghie in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[3][8]
• 1828 – energie in Heliade-Rădulescu's grammar.^[3]
• 1829 – energhie “energy, zeal” in a periodical.^[2]
• 1848 – Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary: energy of the soul, of a remedy, of the muscles.^[10]
• 1915 – bioenergetic.^[3]
• 1931 – CADE records the sense in physics.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physics) energy: the capacity of a system to do work when it passes from one state into another: energie electrică, energie nucleară.^[4][12][1]
2. Force, vigour, the power to act: Copiii au multă energie.^[4][5]
3. Firmness, determination in attitudes and actions: cu energie “energetically”.^[4][5]
4. (obsolete) efficacy, of a remedy and the like.^[5][13]

Word family

• energic
• energetic
• energetică
• energetician
• bioenergie

Related words

• Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia)
• French énergie

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. energie
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. energie
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. 354
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, 813
6. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. energie
7. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
8. ^ 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. energíe
9. ^ 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. energie
10. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 383
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. energie
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 212
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 469