soluție

Forms

soluție f (plural soluții)^[1] The 19th century also used soluțiune: „Soluțiuni la acest problem s-ar găsi multe” “many solutions to this problem could be found” (Ion Ghica).^[2][3] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written солуцие.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French solution and directly borrowed from Latin solūtiō (“a loosening; a solution”), a neologism with two sources.^[3][4][2][5] Wiktionary gives only French.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed on solvō (“to loosen, release”) and first meant the unfastening of knots or the unbinding of a prisoner.^[6] In French the word is recorded from the early 13th century, and earlier as Old French soluciun (c. 1119).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is Iordache Golescu's manuscript dictionary of about 1832.^[4] In 1848 Negulici defined soluție and soluțiune as a separation of parts and a melting.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Negulici gave only the physical sense, the dissolving of parts.^[8] The sense “the way out of a difficulty” is quoted in Russo, Ghica, Hasdeu, Maiorescu and Caragiale.^[2] Mathematics uses it for the answer to a problem or an equation.^[3][5] In chemistry it is a homogeneous mixture of substances, usually with a liquid.^[3][9] Soluție de continuitate is an interruption, a break between parts that were joined.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1832 – in Iordache Golescu's manuscript dictionary.^[4]
• 1848 – soluție and soluțiune in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry) A solution: a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances, one of them usually a liquid.^[3][4]
2. A way of solving a difficulty or problem or of getting out of a deadlock: Am găsit o soluție.^[3][4]
3. (mathematics) The answer to a problem; the result obtained.^[3][4]
4. Soluție de continuitate: a break in continuity; a separation of parts that were joined.^[3]

Related words

• soluționa
• Latin solūtiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. solúție
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1032
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 930
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. soluție
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. soluție
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 171