The process of doing or performing something;
something done or performed.
(v.intr.) To carry out an action; to produce an effect.
Etymology (EN): Act, from O.Fr. acte, from L. actus “a doing” and actum
“a thing done,” both from agere “to do, set in motion, drive,
urge, chase, stir up,” from PIE root *ag- “to drive, draw out or
forth, move” (cf. Gk. agein “to lead, guide, drive, carry off,”
agon “assembly, contest in the games,” agogos “leader;”
Av. az- “to drive (away),” azaiti “drives,”
Mod.Pers. govâz “stick for driving cattle,” from Av. gauuāza-,
from gao- “cow, ox, cattle” (→ Bootes)
- āza-, from az-, as above;
Skt. aj- “to drive, sling,” ájati “drives,” ajirá-
“agile, quick.” The
E. agile “characterized by quickness, lightness, and ease of movement;
mentally quick or alert” is from this root.
Etymology (PE): In major European languages there are two fundamental and very close
verbs which convey “work, action, activity”. These are: 1) to do (in
French faire, Spanish hacer, German machen) and
2) to act (French agir, Spanish actuar, German
handeln). In Persian there is only one word for these two concepts:
kardan; and this is obviously a big handicap.
An ad hoc equivalent for action has therefore been
koneš, from kardan “to do.” The problem is that
this solution, despite being widely used, confounds “to do” with
“to act,” and is incapable of forming all the related derivatives.
Therefore, we propose žir, which derives from Av. žirā-
“active, agile, clever;” Mid.Pers. žir, zir “active, busy” (loaned
in Arm. žir “active, busy, clear”), Mod.Pers. zirak “clever, alert,
intelligent;” Kurd. žir “agile,” žiri “agility.”
