intens

Forms

intens m or n (feminine singular intensă, masculine plural intenși, feminine/neuter plural intense)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French intense, as DEX and MDA2 give it,^[2][3] and also borrowed from Latin intensus (“stretched, strained”) for NODEX, Marcu and Wiktionary.^[4][5][1] Gabinschi calls it a Latin-Romance loan taken from French and Italian intenso.^[6] That participle comes from intendō (“to stretch out, strain”), and French borrowed it in the 13th century.^[1][7] The same Latin word gave the inherited întins “stretched”, an etymological doublet of the loan.^[8][1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Antonescu's French dictionary of 1875 has intensu as the equivalent of French intense.^[9] MDA2's first record is in Vlahuță's Dan of 1894: „o căldură dulce intensă” “a sweet, intense warmth”.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The adjective qualifies feelings, actions and physical phenomena that are very strong: cold, darkness, light, noise, traffic.^[2][10][11] It is also used as an adverb, “intensely, very much”, which the Academy dictionary records in I. Teodoreanu.^[8][3] Around it grew the family of intensitate “intensity” and intensiv “intensive”, the latter after French intensif, used in agriculture for farming that draws the most from the least land.^[8] Stamati had an older intensie “strength (of light, of an illness)”, which went out of use, and MDA2 records an obsolete noun intensă “intensity”.^[8][3]

Timeline

• 1875 – intensu in Antonescu's French–Romanian dictionary.^[9]
• 1894 – o căldură dulce intensă in Vlahuță's Dan, the first record in MDA2.^[3][8]
• 1931 – CADE gives sgomot intens “loud noise” and frig intens “severe cold”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very strong, vivid, powerful: of a feeling, an action or a physical phenomenon, intense.^[2][3]

Adverb

1. intensely, with great force, very much.^[3][12]

Related words

• intensitate
• intensiv
• întins

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 514
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1146
4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. intens
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
6. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 118
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f 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. intens
9. ^ a b Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați)
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 649
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. intens
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 529