sesiune

Forms

sesiune f (plural sesiuni)^[1] An older and regional variant sesie (also written sessie) was used in the 19th century: „în cursul acestei sesie” “in the course of this session” (1829).^[2][3] The Latinizing spelling sessiune and a variant seziune also occur.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sessio (“a sitting”), with French session as a second model.^{[5][2][3][6][1]} MDA2 adds Russian сессия (sessija) as a third model, and DLR compares the Russian word for the variant sesie.^[3][2] The Latin word is formed on sedeō (“to sit”) with the suffix -tiō.^[7] The French word was taken from the Latin in the 12th century; its parliamentary sense followed English usage.^[8]

It belongs to the same Latin family as ședea and șes.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DLR's first dated quotation is from 1829, a report on the measures taken by the British Parliament „în cursul acestei sesie” “in the course of this session”.^[2] In 1831 a newspaper glossed sessia with the native șăderea “the sitting”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Transylvania, Bukovina and the Banat the word also named a feudal land holding: the plot a dependent peasant held for rent and could pass on to his heirs, then land given to a parish, a school or a town hall, and an agrarian unit of 32 iugăre.^[2][3] Șincai's Hronic speaks of „Două sesii iobăgești” “two serf holdings”.^[2] Barițiu's Hungarian dictionary of 1869 gives it for Hungarian telek “plot of land”.^[10] The sense of an examination period, sesiune de examene, is recorded in the 20th century.^[2][11] Since the late 1990s the press has used it after English session for any meeting or bout of an activity, such as an autograph session.^[12]

Timeline

• 1829 – sesie of a parliamentary session, the first dated record.^[2]
• 1831 – sessia glossed șăderea.^[2]
• 1853 – the land-holding sense in Șincai's Hronic, as edited that year.^[3]
• 1870 – sessiune, sessie in Costinescu's dictionary.^[4]
• 1997 – the English-inspired sense “meeting, bout” in the press.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A session: the period during which the members of a representative body, institution or organization meet to discuss and settle matters; by extension, the meetings held in it.^[5][1]
2. sesiune de examene: an examination period, especially at university.^[5][13]
3. (historical) A peasant's holding of land on a feudal estate; land given for the use of a parish or a school; an agrarian unit of 32 iugăre.^[3][2]
4. (recent) A meeting or stint of some activity.^[12][1]

Related words

• ședea
• sesie
• posesiune
• asesor
• Latin sessio

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sesiune
3. ^ 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, 866
4. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 509
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1009
6. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
10. ^ Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 558
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 106
12. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. sesiune