neu

Forms

neu f (plural neus)^[1] All the dialects have /e/; an open vowel is heard at Taüll, Llesp and Vilaller and in the valley of Canillo in Andorra.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *nevem (“snow”), a form with an open /ɛ/ of Latin nix (“snow”), whose accusative was ⟨nivem⟩.^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The form with the open vowel also underlies Spanish nieve, Portuguese neve and Occitan nèu, while Italian neve, Old French noif and Romanian nea continue the regular Latin vowel.^[2][6] Coromines finds the open-vowel type too old and widespread to be explained by analogy with other words, and prefers the influence of Latin nebula (“fog, mist”), which Vulgar Latin may have felt as a diminutive of the word for snow, helped by alliterative pairings of snow with mist and frost.^[2] Corominas proposes the same influence in his Spanish dictionary.^[7] Wiktionary also mentions a lowering of the vowel caused by the following bilabial consonant.^[1]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *sniks, from Proto-Indo-European *snígʷʰs (“snow”), the source also of Ancient Greek νίψ (níps) and, indirectly, of the English word snow.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

CICA's first record is the Costums de Tortosa of 1272.^[8] Llull, in the Llibre de contemplació, wishes the four elements to bring plujes e vents e neus e trons e lamps “rains and winds and snows and thunder and lightning”.^[9] DECat gives Llull and Jaume March (1371) as the first records.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense;^[10] Muntaner already uses the plural for the snows of a cold country.^[11] Labèrnia gives the plural for a season of heavy snow.^[10] The DCVB records the sense of hail, and the GDLC the interference that looks like falling snow on a television or radar screen.^[3][5] The Viccionari adds cocaine, in colloquial use.^[12]

The verb nevar is as old as Llull, from Vulgar Latin nivare;^[8] nevat is in Curial e Güelfa, nevada is recorded in the 17th century, and nevera in 1888.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1272 – the Costums de Tortosa.^[8]
• 13th century, second half – Llull's Llibre de contemplació.^[9]
• 1325 – Muntaner's chronicle speaks of a land of great cold and snows.^[11]
• 1371 – Jaume March.^[2]
• 1839 – Labèrnia defines the word and gives the plural for a snowy season.^[10]
• 1851 – Escrig records the whiteness of snow as a comparison.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. snow: small crystals of ice that fall in white flakes: Aquest hivern la neu ha trigat a arribar.^[14][5][1]
2. (in the plural) Snowfalls; snow lying on the ground, as in neus perpètues.^[5][10]
3. fer neu: to snow.^[14]
4. (television) Interference on a screen that looks like falling snow.^[5]
5. (dialectal) Hail.^[3]
6. (colloquial) Cocaine.^[12]

Word family

• nevar
• nevada
• nevat
• nevàs
• nevassada
• nevera
• neviscar
• nevós

Related words

• nival
• Latin nix
• Spanish nieve
• Occitan nèu

Usage notes

Labèrnia records the saying pensar las neus de antany si caurán enguany “to wonder whether last year's snows will fall this year”, said of someone whose mind is elsewhere.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 5, 918
3. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. neu
4. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 632
5. ^ a b c d e Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. neu
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5936
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nieve
8. ^ a b c Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. neu
9. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. neu
10. ^ a b c d e Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. neu
11. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. neu
12. ^ a b Viccionari (Catalan Wiktionary), https://ca.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. neu
13. ^ Escrig, José (1851), Diccionario valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. neu
14. ^ a b Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. neu