moment

Forms

moment n (plural momente)^[1] The old plural momenturi: „De aceea și fericesc momenturile ce aduc atâtea îndestulări nenădăjduite” “and so I bless the moments that bring so many unhoped-for satisfactions” (1787).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mōmentum, with French moment, Italian momento and German Moment as further models, as MDA2, the DLR, DEX and Marcu give it, a word with several sources.^[4][2][5][6] Tiktin names the Latin and French words, and Wiktionary only the French.^[3][1]

The Latin word, “movement, impulse”, is contracted from *movimentum, from moveō (“to move”) with -mentum.^[7][8] The French word, borrowed from Latin in 1119, kept mainly its sense of time, “a very short span”.^[9] Graur lists it among the Romanian words of the family of the Latin verb, with mobil, motor and emoție.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of 1787, with the plural momenturile “the moments” in the sense of short spans of time.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The first record has the sense “short span of time”;^[2] Molnar uses it for the point in time at which something happens, as in Molnar's „întru acel moment sau clipeală” “in that moment or twinkling” (1800).^[2] Many phrases followed: la moment “at once”, din moment ce “since”, la un moment dat “at some point”, and ultimele momente “one's last moments”.^[5][4][11]

Later senses are a stage of a process, a favourable occasion, a quantity in physics, and a literary term: an episode of a story, and the short prose genre capturing a moment of everyday life that Caragiale cultivated.^[5][12][1]

Timeline

• 1787 – momenturile in a document, the first record.^[2][3][4]
• 1794 – momenturile in a calendar.^[2]
• 1800 – moment in Molnar's translation of Millot.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A moment, short span of time; an instant: de moment “short-lived”, pentru moment “for the time being”, pe moment “at first”, la moment “at once”, din moment ce “since”.^[5][4] Also: a short stage of a process;^[5][4] ultimele momente “one's last moments”;^[5][4] la un moment dat “at some point”;^[5][4] Un moment! “Just a moment!”^[5][4]
2. An episode in a literary work; a short prose genre that captures a telling instant of everyday life.^[5][12]
3. A date, a set time.^[5]
4. (physics) A quantity giving the spatial distribution of another quantity relative to a point, axis or plane, as the moment of force.^[5][1]
5. A favourable occasion.^[5]

Word family

• momental
• momentos

Related words

• momentan
• mobil
• Latin moveō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. moment
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. momént
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 47
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 668
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. moment
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 828
12. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. moment