tensiune

Forms

tensiune f (plural tensiuni)^[1] An older variant tensie, now obsolete, is the form of the first record: „electricitatea de tensie slabă” “low-tension electricity” (Marin, 1852).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French tension, a 19th-century scientific loan.^{[3][4][2][1][5]} The neologism dictionaries also name Latin tēnsiō as a model beside the French word.^[6][7] The French word was borrowed in 1490 from Late Latin tēnsiō (“a stretching”), formed on the supine of tendō (“to stretch”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Alexie Marin's Romanian translation of a French chemistry handbook (1852), in the older form tensie and the electrical sense: „electricitatea de tensie slabă” “low-tension electricity”.^[2][3] The same work speaks of the tensiune of vapours, their pressure in a closed space.^[2] Tiktin's first record is of 1854.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word came in as a term of physics: electrical tension, then the pressure of vapours, then the internal force in a body under strain.^[2][3] In medicine it came to mean blood pressure, tensiune arterială.^[2][5] Șăineanu (1929) gives the general sense “strain, tightness” of muscles and a figurative tension of the mind.^[9]

DLR's quotations for the figurative sense of nervous strain, a tense mood or a tense situation come from 20th-century writers such as Ibrăileanu, Camil Petrescu and Călinescu.^[2] Phonetics uses it for the muscular effort of articulating a sound.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1852 – tensie “electrical tension” in Alexie Marin's chemistry handbook, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1854 – tensiune in Tiktin's first record.^[4]
• 1929 – Șăineanu defines the general sense “tightness” and a figurative “tension of the mind”.^[9]
• 1955–1957 – DLRLC records the figurative sense and the stress in solid bodies.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of something stretched; tension, tightness.^[5][12]
2. (figurative) strain, nervous agitation; a tense situation: Tensiunea dintre cele două țări a crescut.^[5][12]
3. (physics) The internal force that arises in a body subjected to external forces; stress.^[5]
4. (physics) The potential difference between two points of an electric field; voltage.^[5][2]
5. (physics) The pressure of the vapour given off by a liquid in a closed space.^[5][2]
6. (physiology) blood pressure, in tensiune arterială; also a blood pressure above normal: Bunica are tensiune.^[5][3]

Related words

• French tension

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tensiune
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, 1199
4. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. tensiune
5. ^ 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. 1117
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. tensiune
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1310
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 648
10. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. tensiune
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 413
12. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. tensiune