reducere

Forms

reducere f (plural reduceri)^[1] An old form răducere is recorded beside reducere.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian reduce + -re, the long infinitive of the verb, used as a noun.^[4][3][2][1] The verb reduce was borrowed from Latin redūcō (“to lead back”) and French réduire.^[3][5][6][1] The Latin verb is formed from re- and dūcō (“to lead”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1660.^[2] DLR's first quotation, from Gheorghe Șincai's Hronic, uses it in the old sense “bringing back”: John Zamoyski took a strong part „în reducerea lui Sigismund Batori în Ardeal” “in bringing Sigismund Báthory back to Transylvania”.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “bringing back” followed the Latin verb and is now obsolete.^[3][8] The modern senses came with the French model: Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 glosses it with French réduction and restriction and with the setting of dislocated bones.^[9] From “lessening” came the commercial sense of a price cut, a discount, and the technical senses of mathematics, chemistry and logic, with reducere la absurd “reduction to absurdity”.^[10][11][4]

Timeline

• c. 1660 – first record.^[2]
• early 19th century – “bringing back” in Șincai's Hronic.^[8]
• 1862 – “reduction, restriction” and the setting of dislocated bones, in Pontbriant.^[9]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it as “lessening” and “bringing back”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of reducing and its result; micșorare, decrease.^[4][3]
2. A cut in the price of goods; a discount;^[3][10][1] rabat.^[3][10][1]
3. (medicine) The setting back in place of a dislocated or broken bone.^[4][9]
4. (logic) A procedure that proves the validity of syllogistic moods from those of the first figure;^[4][13] reducere la absurd “reductio ad absurdum”.^[4][13]
5. (chemistry) A reaction in which an atom or ion gains electrons.^[11]
6. (obsolete) Bringing back.^[3][8]

Related words

• reducător
• reduce
• reductibil
• reductibilitate
• reductor
• reducție
• reducțional
• reducționism

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. reducere
3. ^ 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, 674
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 933
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. reduce
6. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. reduce
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. reducere
9. ^ a b c Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 616
10. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 707
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. reducere
12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 534
13. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. reducere