stres

Forms

stres n (plural stresuri)^[1] In the 1970s the word was still written stress: „de la stress la poluare” “from stress to pollution” (1971).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English stress, as DLR and MDA2 give it;^[3][5][1] DEX, DN and Wiktionary name French stress as well.^[2][3][5][1] French took the word from English in 1950.^[6] The English word, first “hardship”, then “pressure, strain”, is shortened from distress (“affliction”), which goes back to Old French destrece or estrece (“narrowness, oppression”), from Latin stringō (“to draw tight”).^[6] The medical notion was put forward in English by Hans Selye in 1936.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1971, in the newspaper România liberă, spelled stress, among the causes of periodontal disease, as a harsh action on the organism.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Dimitrescu records it in the 1970s press as a medical anglicism, “the stress of modern life”.^[4] From the medical sense, a factor that strains the organism and the organism's response, it spread to everyday tension and pressure.^[5][7] Geology uses it for lateral pressure in synclines.^[5]

Timeline

• 1971 – stress in România liberă.^[3][2]
• 1974 – stress-ul modern “modern stress” in the press.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) Any factor of the environment (injury, emotion, cold, heat) that brings about tension and an alarm reaction in humans or animals; by extension, the harmful effect of such a factor.^[5][8]
2. stress: mental strain, nervous tension.^[7][1]
3. (geology) Lateral pressure in synclines that folds the rock into mountain ranges.^[5][7]

Word family

• stresa
• stresant

Usage notes

The plural is stresuri.^[5][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. stres
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1014
4. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România