test

Forms

test n (plural teste)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French test, with English test as a second source, a term of psychology.^[2][3][4] MDA2 gives French and English too, and Wiktionary French only.^[5][1]

French took it in 1893 from the English word, short for mental test “psychological trial”, which DHLF says James McKeen Cattell first used in the United States in 1890.^[6] The English word had been borrowed in the 14th century as a term of alchemy from Old French test (“pot for assaying gold”), and came to mean “trial” in the 16th.^[6] The Old French word is from Latin testum (“earthen pot lid, earthen vessel”).^[6] The same Latin word survives in Romanian as the inherited țest “earthenware baking vessel”.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DLRLC (1955–1957) has it as a psychological test of a person's physical and mental aptitudes, and by extension the cards and sheets used for it.^[8] MDA2's first record is the encyclopaedic dictionary of 1962.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Beside psychology, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries record it in medicine and technology.^[5][9] Marcu and Maneca's dictionary of neologisms has it for an experiment, for a check of the strength and working of a part or a machine, and for a physical or chemical means of detecting a process; it also lists the compounds test-film, a film for adjusting a projector, and test-meci, an unofficial international match in rugby or cricket.^[5][9] MDA2 adds test cutanat “skin test” and test de sarcină “pregnancy test”.^[5] In school it became a written or oral check of knowledge, and the test-grilă a multiple-choice test.^[2]

Timeline

• 1955–1957 – the DLRLC, with the psychological sense.^[8]
• 1962 – MDA2's first record, in the encyclopaedic dictionary.^[5]
• 1968 – the zoological test “shell”, first recorded in the second edition of the dictionary of neologisms.^[5]
• 2009 – DEX 2009 has the school test and test-grilă, which DEX 1998 lacks.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (psychology) A test of sensory, motor or mental functions, of intellectual development or of aptitudes; by extension, the material used for it.^[2][5][1]
2. A written or oral test of knowledge: test-grilă “multiple-choice test”.^[2]
3. (medicine) A method of examination: test cutanat “skin test”, test de sarcină “pregnancy test”.^[5]
4. (technology) An experiment; a check of the strength and working of a part, a device or an installation.^[5][9]

Related words

• țest
• testa
• French test

Usage notes

A second test (DEX's test²), the shell of chalk or chitin that protects the body of some molluscs and crustaceans, is a separate borrowing test, first recorded in 1968;^[2][5][4] MDA2 also names testum.^[2][5][4]

In the 19th century the spelling test(u) stood for other words: Costinescu (1870) has testu for the earthenware baking pot, Antonescu (1875) gives testu both as “tortoise shell” and as “text”, and Barcianu (1886) sends one test to tecst “text”.^[11][12][13] MDA2 still lists a test³ as a variant of text.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1122
3. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. test
4. ^ a b c Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. test
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1209
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. test
7. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 159
8. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 418
9. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. test
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1089
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 613
12. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 312
13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 645