funcție

Forms

funcție f (plural funcții)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fonction, with Latin functiō as a second source, as DEX 2009 and MDA2 give it.^[2][3] DEX compares Italian funzione, which Wiktionary counts as a further source.^[2][1] Tiktin and the DA name only the French word, the DA with the Latin one behind it.^[4][5] The older variant funcțiune keeps the shape of the Latin oblique stem functiōnem.^[2][6]

The Latin noun is formed on fungor (“to perform, discharge”) with the suffix -tiō and meant “the carrying out, performance”;^[7][8] Late Latin legal texts used it for a public service or office.^[7][8] French took it first in a simpler spelling in 1370 and again, in its present form, in 1566.^[8] Graur places the Romanian word in the same Latin family as defunct.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1829.^[4] The DA's oldest quotation is from Bălcescu, on the division of functions among nations, and MDA2 dates that text by its 1878 edition.^[5][3] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848 explains the neologism with native words: “service, office, work, task”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a person's task, then a public or private post, an office in the administration.^[5][10] The sciences added the action of an organ in physiology, the working of a machine, a quantity that depends on variables in mathematics, and the role of a word or a suffix in grammar.^[5] Chemistry and logic gave further technical senses.^[2] The two forms divided the work: funcție is the usual word for a post, while funcțiune is now kept chiefly in the grammatical, chemical, physiological and logical senses.^[2] The verb funcționa and the noun funcționar “civil servant” belong to the same family.^[5]

Timeline

• 1829 – the first record cited by Tiktin.^[4]
• 1848 – funcție “service, office” in Negulici's vocabulary.^[10]
• 1931 – CADE refers funcție to the main form funcțiune.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A post or office: regular administrative work done in an institution for a salary; also the rank one holds in a hierarchy.^[2][3]
2. A task, role or purpose.^[2][1]
3. (grammar) The syntactic role of a word in a clause.^[2][3]
4. (chemistry) The set of chemical properties of a compound given by a group of atoms in its molecule.^[2]
5. (physiology) The activity proper to an organ, system or tissue.^[2][3]
6. (mathematics) A function: a variable that depends on one or more independent variables.^[2][1]
7. (logic) An operation that gives an argument a corresponding value.^[2]

Related words

• funcțiune
• defunct
• Latin functiō

Usage notes

A fi în funcție de ceva means “to depend on something”: Prețul e în funcție de cerere.^[2] În exercițiul funcțiunii means “in the line of duty”.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 419
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 952
4. ^ 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. funcție
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. funcție
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. funcție
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 48
10. ^ a b c 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. funcție
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. funcție
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 342