reacționa

Forms

reacționa (third-person singular present reacționează, past participle reacționat) 1st conjugation^[1] An old variant reacțiuna is recorded beside it.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French réactionner (“to react”), the source named by DEX, DILF, MDN and Wiktionary.^[4][5][6][1] Other dictionaries treat it as a Romanian formation on the noun reacție (“reaction”): MDA2 and NODEX derive it from that noun,^[2][7] and DN explains it as from Romanian reacție + -ona, modelled on French réagir and Italian reagire.^[8] Wiktionary adds that the word can also be analysed as from Romanian re- + acționa.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and DLR take the first record from Eugen Lovinescu's Critice (1928), where a critic is said to react only to one kind of literature: „nu reacționează decât pentru un fel de literatură”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb has two senses in all the modern dictionaries: to respond in a certain way to a stimulus or to an action from outside, and to take a stand on a situation, to retort.^[4][2] DN marks the second as an extension of the first.^[8] DLR's quotations from the interwar and postwar writers show both: a man who cannot react while his head grows hot, a minister's reaction to a question.^[3]

Timeline

• 1928 – first record, in Eugen Lovinescu's Critice.^[2]
• 1955–1957 – the dictionary of the literary language lists both senses, with a quotation from Bart.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To respond in a particular way to a stimulus or to an action from outside: Pupila reacționează la lumină.^[4][2]
2. (intransitive) To take a stand on a situation; to retort, to answer back.^[4][7]

Related words

• reacție
• acționa

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 662
3. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. reacționa
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 924
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. reacționa
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. reacționa
7. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. reacționa
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. reacționa
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 693