expresie

Forms

expresie f (plural expresii)^[1] Șincai's arithmetic of 1785 writes espressia: „Espressia aceasta... arată cum unul, carele e mai întâi de-a dreapta, face numai o unime” “this expression shows how a one standing first on the right makes only a unit”.^[2][3] Other old forms are espresiune, expresiune, expresion, expresione, spresie and spresiune;^[1] expresiune is still a variant.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French expression, and at the same time borrowed from Latin expressiō, a learned word of the late 18th and 19th centuries.^[3][4][5][1] DELR and the DLR add espressione as a third model, which the old forms in ⟨espr-⟩ reflect.^[3][2] The Latin noun is formed on exprimō (“to press out”) with the suffix -tiō, and first meant “a pressing out”.^[6][7][1]

The same Latin verb gave the neologism exprima and, inherited, the verb screme.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Șincai's arithmetic of 1785, in the mathematical sense: a group of numbers or letters joined by the signs of operations.^[3][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The mathematical sense came first, and the phrase a reduce la cea mai simplă expresie “to reduce to the lowest terms” passed into general use for bringing something down to its simplest form.^[2] The linguistic sense, a word or group of words that conveys an idea, often figuratively, and the sense of a manifestation of thought or feeling in words, gestures or the face followed in the 19th century.^[4][9] DELR also lists senses in logic and in biology, the expression of a gene.^[3] The family grew in the 20th century with expresionism and expresionist, recorded from 1916 and taken from German and French.^[3]

Timeline

• 1785 – espressia in Șincai's arithmetic, the first record.^[3][5][2]
• 1916 – expresionism and expresionist.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. expression: the act of putting something into words; a concise phrase that conveys an idea, often figuratively; a word.^[4]
2. (figurative) The showing of ideas or feelings through the face, gestures or the like; the look of a face that shows one's state of mind.^[4]
3. (mathematics) A group of numbers, letters and so on joined by the signs of operations.^[4][2]
4. (biology) The way a gene shows in the phenotype.^[3]

Related words

• exprima
• expresionism
• screme
• Latin expressiō

Usage notes

Expresie is the usual term for an idiom: a arunca mănușa is an expresie meaning “to challenge”.^[4][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. expresie
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. exprima
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 373
5. ^ 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. expresie
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. expressiō
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. expressio
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 75
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 241
10. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 628