impresiona

Forms

impresiona (third-person singular present impresionează, past participle impresionat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French impressionner (“to impress”), as DEX and the neologism dictionaries give it;^[2][3] MDA2 also names Italian impressionare.^[4][2][3][5] The French verb is formed on impression.^[1] The Romanian verb stands beside impresie, recorded from 1818 and also taken from French.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Antonescu's dictionary of 1875 lists impressionà as the equivalent of French impressionner.^[7] MDA2's first quotation is from Maiorescu's parliamentary speeches.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Damé's dictionary of the 1890s gives its conjugation, impresionez.^[8] CADE in 1931 lists three senses: to leave a trace on a substance, as light does on silver nitrate; to act on the senses; and to move the heart.^[9] Modern dictionaries keep two: to make a strong impression, to move someone, and the photographic sense of light acting on a plate or film.^[4][5] Its derivatives impresionant “impressive” and impresionabil “impressionable” are borrowed from French as well.^[4]

Timeline

• 1875 – impressionà in Antonescu's dictionary.^[7]
• 1931 – the photographic sense in CADE.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To impress, to move: to make a strong impression on someone; reflexive, to be easily affected: Discursul ei i-a impresionat pe toți.^[4][5]
2. (photography) Of light, to act on the sensitive layer of a plate, film or photographic paper, recording an image.^[4][5]

Word family

• impresionant
• impresionabil

Related words

• impresie
• French impressionner

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. impresiona
3. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. impresiona
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 495
5. ^ 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, 1120
6. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. impresie
7. ^ a b Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 130
8. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. impresiona
9. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. impresiona