plastic

Forms

plastic m or n (feminine singular plastică, masculine plural plastici, feminine/neuter plural plastice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French plastique, with Latin plasticus as a second model in MDA2, Tiktin and the DLR.^[2][3][4] DEX 2009 and Wiktionary name only the French word.^[5][1] Scriban goes straight to Greek.^[6] French borrowed it in 1553 from the Latin word, which is from Ancient Greek πλαστικός (plastikós, “fit for moulding”), from πλάσσω (plássō, “to mould clay or wax”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and Tiktin date it to Bobb's Romanian–Latin–Hungarian dictionary (1822–1823).^[2][3] Negulici in 1848 gives it as a term of philosophy: “that has the power to form”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word belonged to the arts and philosophy: Barcianu translates it in 1886 as “forming, creative, plastic”, and Șăineanu in 1929 gives it the sense “relating to the imitation of forms”, with sculpture as the first of the plastic arts.^[9][10] The physical sense, of a material that can be shaped and keeps its new form, is recorded in a farming text of 1859, where clay soil is prea plastic “too plastic”.^[4] From masă plastică and material plastic came the noun for synthetic materials, now the common sense.^[2][5] Of literary and musical work it means vivid, evocative.^[5][11]

Timeline

• 1822–1823 – in Bobb's dictionary, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1848 – a term of philosophy, “having the power to form”, in Negulici.^[8]
• 1859 – a plastic clay soil in a farming text.^[4]
• 1886 – bildend, schöpferisch “forming, creative” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1955 – the noun plastic “plastic explosive”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Malleable: that can be given a desired shape by moulding, and deformed without cracking or breaking: lut plastic.^[5][2]
2. masă plastică, material plastic: a synthetic material that can be easily worked into objects, hot or cold.^[5]
3. Made or reproduced after a model by moulding a material.^[5]
4. Relating to sculpture and painting; like a sculpture or a painting: arte plastice “visual arts”, artist plastic “visual artist”.^[5][2]
5. (of literary or musical work) Evocative, vivid.^[5]
6. chirurgie plastică: plastic surgery.^[5]

Noun

1. (neuter) Plastic, a synthetic material that can be shaped under heat and pressure: o pungă de plastic.^[2]
2. (feminine, plastică) The art of modelling; the art of sculpture or painting; the harmony of volumes in a work of art.^[5]

Related words

• plasticitate

Usage notes

DEX 2009 lists a second noun plastic, a plastic explosive made of synthetic rubber and a plasticizer, borrowed from French plastic and English plastic and recorded from 1955.^[5][4][2] Marcu also gives it the sense of an unvulcanized rubber mix for repairing tyres.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 2, 407
3. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. plastic
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. plastic
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 828
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 993
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. 316
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. 481
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 486
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 451
12. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. plastic