genă

Forms

genă f (plural gene)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French gène (“gene”).^[2][3][4][1] The French word is recorded from 1935; it renders a term that the Danish biologist W. Johannsen made in German in 1909, which English had as gene from 1911.^[5] Johannsen built it on Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “birth, family, race”), related to γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to be born, to become”).^[5][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is from the weekly Contemporanul of 1949, in the biological sense.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 1950s DLRLC and DLRM described the gene as a particle of a chromosome to which the “idealist school” of biology ascribes the passing on of hereditary traits.^[7][8] Later dictionaries define it plainly as the part of a chromosome that carries a hereditary character.^[6][9][10] DEX 2009 gives the definition of molecular genetics: a segment of the DNA molecule, a sequence of nucleotides that works as one functional unit and holds genetic information.^[3]

Compounds came with the press of the 2000s, such as genă-cheie “key gene”.^[11]

Timeline

• 1909 – W. Johannsen forms the term in German.^[5]
• 1935 – the French gène.^[5]
• 1949 – genă in the weekly Contemporanul, the first Romanian record.^[2]
• 1955 – DLRLC defines it as a particle that the “idealist” biology credits with heredity.^[7]
• 2007 – genă-cheie “key gene” in the press.^[11]
• 2009 – DEX defines it as a segment of DNA.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (genetics) A gene: a segment of the DNA molecule, a sequence of nucleotides that acts as one functional unit and carries genetic information; the unit of heredity located in a cromozom.^[3][2][1]

Related words

• genetică
• French gène

Usage notes

The plural gene is the same as the plural of geană “eyelash”, a different word inherited from Latin.^[12][3] Pisone's dictionary of 1865 has a headword génă “edge of the eyelid”, a Latinizing spelling of that word, not this one.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 982
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 432
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. genă
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. genă
7. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 369
8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. genă
10. ^ Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
11. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. génă
12. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 431
13. ^ Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 143