relaxa

Forms

relaxa (third-person singular present relaxează, past participle relaxat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French relaxer according to DEX, MDA2 and the DLR;^[2][3][4][1] Marcu adds Latin relaxō (“to loosen, relax”),^[5] and Marcu and Maneca compare English relax.^[6] The French verb was borrowed from Latin in the 12th century; its pronominal use “to unwind” came back from English about 1950, the English verb being itself from French.^[7] The Latin verb is formed with re- on laxō (“to loosen”), from laxus (“loose”).^[7][8]

Graur lists it with the other Romanian words of this Latin family: the neologisms lax and laxativ and the inherited lăsa.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary, in the edition MDA2 dates to 1900, as a reflexive verb used of muscles and elastic bodies, “to slacken”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, of tense muscles or features that slacken, was extended figuratively to a person who calms down after an effort.^[4][9] Technical senses in physics and mechanics followed: a system that returns to equilibrium, internal stresses that decrease without change of shape.^[2][3] Marcu and Maneca put first the sense of doing something without haste or tension.^[6]

Timeline

• 12th century – French relaxer, from Latin.^[7]
• 1900 – a se relaxa in Barcianu's dictionary.^[3]
• c. 1950 – French se relaxer “to unwind”, from English.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive and transitive, figurative) To relax, to calm down or unwind after an effort; to make less tense.^[2][1]
2. (reflexive) (of muscles or features) To slacken, to loosen.^[4][9]
3. (transitive, physics) To free a system displaced from equilibrium, so that it returns slowly to its old or a new state of equilibrium.^[2]
4. (reflexive, mechanics) (of internal stresses in a body) To decrease without any change in the body's deformation.^[2]

Related words

• relaxare
• lăsa
• lax
• French relaxer

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 940
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 686
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. relaxa
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. relaxa
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. relaxa
7. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. s.v. relaxa
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 720