impuls

Forms

impuls n (plural impulsuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin impulsus (“push, thrust, impulse”), a learned borrowing of the 19th century.^[2][3][4][1] CADE marks it and its synonym impulsiune as taken from French.^[5] The Latin noun is formed on impellō (“to push, drive”), whose root verb is pellō (“to push”).^[6][7] Scriban analyses it as im- and pulsus, and the same Latin family gave Romanian puls, apela, expulza and repulsie.^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to Constantin Negruzzi's writings, published in 1872, in the sense of a push given to a person or a body by an outside force.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense of a push soon took a figurative one, an urge or stimulus to act: Scriban gives both, with the gloss “encouragement, incitement”, and Barcianu translates it with German Antrieb and Drang.^[8][9] Antonescu in 1875 refers it to the longer form impulsiune, and Șăineanu in 1929 glosses it with that word.^[10][11]

In the 20th century the word became a technical term: in physics the product of mass and velocity of a moving body, in physiology a sudden movement set off by the nerves, in electrical engineering a brief, sharp change of a quantity, such as a pulse of current.^[3][2][12] Philosophy speaks of an impuls primar, the first push to which the motion of matter was ascribed.^[4] From telephony it took the sense of the unit by which calls are charged, recorded in the press from 1974.^[13]

Timeline

• 1872 – the first record, in the edition of Constantin Negruzzi's writings published that year.^[2]
• 1875 – impulsu in Antonescu's dictionary, referred to impulsiune.^[10]
• 1886 – impuls “drive, urge” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1939 – Scriban gives the literal and the figurative senses.^[8]
• 1974 – the unit of telephone charges, in the press.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. An impulse, stimulus or urge that drives someone to act; in physiology, a sudden movement set off by the nerves.^[3][2]
2. (physics) momentum, the product of the mass and the velocity of a moving body.^[3][14]
3. (physics, electronics) A sudden, strong and brief variation of a quantity; a pulse: un impuls de curent “a current pulse”.^[3][12]
4. (telephony) The unit by which telephone calls are counted and charged.^[13]

Related words

• impulsiune
• impulsiv
• puls
• Latin impulsus

Usage notes

The plural is impulsuri.^[3] MDA2 records the rare synonym impulsie for the first three senses.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1121
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 496
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. impuls
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. impuls
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 627
9. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 276
10. ^ a b Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 131
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 311
12. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. impuls
13. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. impúls
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 501