sensibil

Forms

sensibil m or n (feminine singular sensibilă, masculine plural sensibili, feminine/neuter plural sensibile)^[1]

Etymology

It is a neologism with several sources, as Romanian dictionaries often give them: borrowed from French sensible and also from Latin sensibilis (“perceptible by the senses; able to feel”).^[1][2][3] DEX and Marcu name French before Latin, and the DN compares both.^[1][2][3] MDA2 and the DLR put Latin first and add Italian sensibile.^[4][5] Scriban gives Latin and French.^[6] Wiktionary names French alone.^[7]

The Latin adjective is formed on sentiō (“to feel, perceive”) with -bilis.^[8] It first meant “perceptible by the senses”; the active sense “capable of feeling” is also Latin.^[8][9] The French word was taken from Latin about 1265.^[10] The Latin verb survives in Romanian as simți.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and the DLR date the first record to 1857, in M. Wertheimer's course for sick-nurses: „mai ales femeile, care sînt sensibile” “especially the women, who are sensitive”.^[4][5] Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 has the word too.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, reacting easily to sensations, came first; the moral sense, easily moved, followed.^[5][1] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 still sends the reader from sensibilŭ to the native formation simțibil.^[12]

By the early 20th century the senses were those of French: what falls under the senses, perceptible cold, a notable change, an instrument that shows the smallest differences.^[13][6] Scriban records the musical use, notă sensibilă, the note a semitone below the tonic.^[6] Modern dictionaries add the photographic sense and the noun for the leading tone.^[1][2]

Timeline

• 1857 – the first record, in Wertheimer's course for sick-nurses.^[4][5]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[5]
• 1870 – Costinescu refers sensibilŭ to simțibil.^[12]
• 1886 – glossed with German empfindlich in Barcianu's dictionary.^[14]
• 1939 – notă sensibilă in music, in Scriban.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person: feeling every physical or moral impression strongly; easily moved, sensitive, emotional; of an organism, reacting to the slightest outside stimulus.^[1][4]
2. (philosophy) That can be known through the senses; as a neuter noun, the realm of things known in that way.^[1][3]
3. Easy to notice; appreciable, marked: o scădere sensibilă a prețurilor “a marked fall in prices”.^[1][15]
4. Of an instrument or material: reacting to the smallest variations of an outside agent.^[1][3]
5. Of photographic material: able to record the action of light as a latent image.^[1][2]

Noun

1. (music) The leading tone, the seventh degree of the major and minor modes; also the chord built on it.^[1][5]

Related words

• simți
• sens
• sensibilitate
• insensibil
• French sensible

Usage notes

Said of people, it is usually followed by la “to” before what they feel strongly.^[16] The DLR records a rare spelling senzibil.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1005
2. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
3. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
4. ^ 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, 859
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sensibil
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1188
7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
8. ^ a b 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 504
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 584
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 580
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
16. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 98