sens

Forms

sens n (plural sensuri)^[1] A rare variant is senz;^[2][3] Scriban's fals senz is the French faux sens “mistranslation”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sens, with Latin sensus (“perception, sense”) as a second model, as DEX, MDA2 and the dictionaries of neologisms give it.^[4][2][5] Tiktin names French only, Scriban puts the Latin first.^[6][3] Gabinschi also names Italian senso and English sense among its models.^[7] The Latin noun is formed on sentiō (“to feel, to perceive”), the verb that Romanian inherited as simți.^[1][8] Gabinschi pairs the word with simț as a doublet.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Dimitrie Cantemir's Hronicul vechimei a romano-moldo-vlahilor, written in 1717–1723 (MDA2 quotes the 1901 edition).^[2] Tiktin dates the word from 1818.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century it was a learned word for the meaning of a word or text: Costinescu (1870) lists sens moral and sens alegoric, and also the old sense “faculty of feeling”, which Romanian expresses with simț.^[9] It also means “reason, purpose” (sensul vieții “the meaning of life”) and “direction” (în toate sensurile “in every direction”); sens unic is one-way traffic.^[4][10][11] In mathematics and physics it is each of the two orientations of a line.^[4]

Timeline

• 1717–1723 – in Cantemir's Hronicul, the first record.^[2]
• 1818 – Tiktin's first record.^[6]
• 1870 – sens moral, sens alegoric in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German Sinn, Bedeutung.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The meaning of a word, expression or grammatical form; the content of what is said: vorbe fără sens “meaningless talk”;^[4][2] sens propriu, sens figurat “literal, figurative sense”.^[4][2]
2. Reason, logic, purpose: fără sens “pointlessly”, într-un anumit sens “in a certain sense”.^[4][2]
3. direction, orientation: sens unic “one-way traffic”, sens giratoriu “roundabout”.^[4][2]
4. (mathematics, physics) Each of the two possible orientations of an ordered one-dimensional set, such as a line.^[4]

Related words

• simț
• simți
• sensibil
• Latin sensus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 859
3. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1188
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1005
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. sens
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sens
7. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 160
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 504
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 584
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. sens
12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 580