intervenție

Forms

intervenție f (plural intervenții)^[1] An older variant is intervențiune;^[2] Costinescu (1870) lists intervenție, intervențiune and the long infinitive intervenire.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French intervention, with Latin interventiō as a second source in DEX, MDA2 and MDN.^[4][3][5] Wiktionary names French alone.^[1] The Latin noun is formed on interveniō (“to come between”) and meant, in late legal Latin, standing surety for someone.^[6][7] The verb interveni was borrowed from the same languages.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) defines it as the act of intervening, and especially the action of a people that intervenes in the troubles of another to restore peace.^[8] MDA2's first record is later, from Maiorescu's parliamentary speeches (from 1866).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 still has the 19th-century diplomatic sense of mediation to restore peace.^[2] In modern Romanian the word covers any taking part in an action or discussion, including a speech in a debate, armed interference of a state in the affairs of another, a surgical operation, and a request made to an influential person for a favour, often pejorative.^[4][3][9] Echipă de intervenție is a team sent to deal with the effects of an accident or disaster.^[3] In the underworld slang it means a burglary.^[10]

Timeline

• 1776 – the verb interveni.^[3]
• 1848 – entered in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1866 – in Maiorescu's parliamentary speeches.^[3]
• 1870 – Costinescu lists the variants intervenție and intervențiune.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. intervention: the act of taking part in an action, a process or a discussion.^[4][3]
2. Armed invasion of a state, or interference in its internal affairs, by another state.^[4]
3. (medicine) a surgical operation, also intervenție chirurgicală.^[4]
4. A step taken to obtain something, especially a favour from an influential person.^[4][9]

Related words

• interveni

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 556
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1152
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 518
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. intervenție
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b 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. intervenție
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. intervenție
10. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. intervenție