substanță

Forms

substanță f (plural substanțe)^[1] Old texts have the variants substanție, subștanție and, rarely, supstanță, supstanție and sustanță.^[2][3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848, in the transitional alphabet, spells it sꙋbstanцъ, with the example „sꙋbstanцa sꙋffʌetꙋʌꙋǐ” (substanța sufletului) “the substance of the soul”.^[4] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written субстанцэ.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin substantia (“substance, being, essence”), a learned borrowing.^[3][2][5] The dictionaries of neologisms and DEX give French substance as the source, alone or beside the Latin word,^[6][7][8][1] and MDA2 adds Italian sostanza to the Latin and French models.^[2] The old variants in ⟨-ție⟩ follow the Latin form.^[3][2]

The Latin noun is formed on substō (“to stand under, hold out”) with the suffix -ia,^[9][1] and the verb on sub- (“under”) and stō (“to stand”).^[1][10] The Latin word rendered Ancient Greek ὑπόστασις (hupóstasis) in two of its senses, “foundation” and “substance”.^[10][11] French had borrowed it from Latin about 1120,^[10] and Italian, first in the form sustanzia, in the early 14th century.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1683, in a print of Dosoftei.^[3] MDA2 cites a text of Cantemir from a 1954 article.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first senses were philosophical and theological: what exists by itself, as opposed to its changing qualities, and the essence of a thing.^[2][3] By 1848 Negulici gave the senses “spirit”, “matter” and “the best part of something”, and figuratively “the essence of a word”.^[4] Scriban (1939) and Șăineanu (1929) list the same range, from a spiritual substance to a soft or solid one, and the nourishing part of the soil that passes into plants.^[5][13] In the 20th century the chemical sense became the first one: a homogeneous body of the same molecules, as in substanță organică or substanță toxică.^[6][14] Anatomy has substanța albă and substanța cenușie of the nervous system, and medicine substanța de contrast used in radiology.^[6] MDA2 also records rare old senses, such as a sum of money forming a fund, and linguistic ones: the material side of a sign.^[2] The press compound substanță-cheie “key substance” is recorded in 2001.^[15]

Timeline

• 1683 – first record, in a print of Dosoftei.^[3]
• 1848 – sꙋbstanцъ in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[4]
• 1886 – substanță glossed German Wesen, Stoff and Substanz in Barcianu's dictionary.^[16]
• 1955–1957 – the chemical sense first in the DLRLC.^[17]
• 2001 – substanță-cheie in the press.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A substance, matter: a homogeneous solid, liquid or gaseous body made up of the same molecules, with its own form, colour, smell and taste: o substanță toxică.^[6][2]
2. (anatomy) In substanța albă and substanța cenușie: the white and grey matter of the central nervous system.^[6]
3. (philosophy) The basis of existence, the substrate that persists through all changes; what exists by itself and carries the attributes.^[6][2]
4. The essential part of a thing; figuratively, the content or core of a speech or a piece of writing.^[6][2]
5. în substanță (rare): in short, in substance.^[6][5]

Related words

• substanțial
• Latin substantia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1036
3. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. substanță
4. ^ 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. substanță
5. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1259
6. ^ 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. 1067
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. substanță
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 624
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. substanță
15. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
16. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 618
17. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 285