presiune

Forms

presiune f (plural presiuni)^[1] Older texts spell it pressiune, as Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 does: „acțiunea de a pressa” “the action of pressing”.^[2][3] MDA2 also records a variant presie.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French pression.^[4][1] MDA2 and MDN add borrowed from Latin pressiō as a second source, and DN also compares Italian pressione.^[3][5][6] Scriban derives it from the Latin word alone.^[7]

The French word is a learned borrowing from the Latin one.^[1] The Latin word, “pressure”, used by Vitruvius and Caesar, also meant the fulcrum of a lever, and is formed from premō (“to press”) with the suffix -tiō.^[8][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is from 1852, in Alexie Marin's Romanian translation of J. Pelouze and E. Fremy's chemistry textbook, Prescurtare de himie.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 treats pressiune as a term of mechanics, a force acting on another body.^[2] Barcianu gives the phrase a face presiune asupra cuiva “to put pressure on someone” in 1886,^[10] and Șăineanu in 1929 has both presiune atmosferică and the figurative sense of moral constraint, as in presiunea opiniunii publice “the pressure of public opinion”.^[11] Scriban adds mașină cu abur sub presiune “a steam engine under pressure”, one ready to move.^[7] DEX 2009 has the medical presiune arterială, the botanical presiune radiculară and the political grup de presiune “pressure group”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1852 – the first record, in a chemistry textbook translated by Alexie Marin.^[3]
• 1870 – pressiune as a term of mechanics in Costinescu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1875 – pressiune beside French pression in Antonescu's dictionary.^[12]
• 1886 – a face presiune asupra cuiva “to put pressure on someone” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[10]
• 1929 – presiune atmosferică and the figurative sense of moral constraint in Șăineanu.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. pressure: the force pressing evenly and perpendicularly on a unit of a body's surface, and the physical quantity equal to that force divided by the area;^[4][3] presiune atmosferică “atmospheric pressure”.^[4][3]
2. (medicine) presiune arterială “blood pressure”, the same as tensiune arterială.^[4]
3. (botany) presiune radiculară “root pressure”, the pressure in the living cells of the root that drives water into the root and stem.^[4]
4. (figurative) Moral, economic, political or social constraint put on someone;^[4][5] grup de presiune “pressure group, lobby”;^[4][5] (rare) a state of mental oppression.^[4][5]

Related words

• presa
• presă

Usage notes

It is pronounced with a hiatus, -si-u-.^[4][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 348
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. 2, 525
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 870
5. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. presiune
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. presiune
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1042
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ 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. 502
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 508
12. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 244