precis

Forms

precis m or n (feminine singular precisă, masculine plural preciși, feminine/neuter plural precise)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French précis, partly also borrowed from Latin praecīsus (“cut off; abrupt”), as DEX, MDA2 and the DLR give it.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary names only French, Scriban only Latin, and the DN adds Italian preciso.^[1][5][6]

The Latin word is the past participle of praecīdō (“to cut off in front”), a compound of prae- (“before”) and caedō (“to cut, strike”).^[1][5] French borrowed it in 1377; its sense in rhetoric, “shortened”, led to “exact”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are from 1848: MDA2 and the DLR cite a periodical of that year for the phrase „o idee precisă” “a precise idea”, and Negulici's dictionary of neologisms explains it as determinat, hotărât “determined, settled”.^[3][4][8]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant “clear, definite”, of ideas, statements and information, and then “exact”, of quantities and times, as in oră precisă.^[4][2] Of instruments it means “working with precision”.^[2][3] Used as an adverb, “exactly”, it is recorded from Bolintineanu on.^[4] Costinescu (1870) also has the French noun précis “summary” as precis.^[9]

Timeline

• 1848 – in a periodical cited by MDA2 and the DLR, and in Negulici's dictionary.^[3][4][8]
• 1870 – Costinescu records the adjective, the adverb “exactly” and a noun “summary”.^[9]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses the adjective and adverb with German bestimmt, genau.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. clear, distinct; definite, certain: un răspuns precis.^[2][3]
2. exact, fixed: la ora precisă.^[2]
3. Of measuring instruments: working with precision, giving values very close to the real ones.^[2][3]

Adverb

1. exactly, precisely; for certain: Nu știu precis când vine.^[4][6][1]

Related words

• preciza
• precizie

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 863
3. ^ 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. 2, 511
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. precis
5. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1035
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. precis
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. s.v. precis
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 335
10. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 496