șuiera

Forms

șuiera (third-person singular present șuieră, past participle șuierat, third-person subjunctive șuiere) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sibilō (“to hiss, whistle”).^[2][3][4][5] Ciorănescu, after Cihac, Pușcariu and the REW, starts from the Latin verb, which passed into a form with /u/ recorded by Du Cange.^[5] Wiktionary and the REW give this form as Vulgar Latin *sūbilō.^[1][6] Tiktin finds such a variant less likely and takes the /u/ from the synonym fluiera; he also allows a direct sound change, comparing jivină.^[7]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian shuir.^[5][8][9] Romance continues the Latin verb in Friulian sivilâ, Occitan siular, Catalan siular and Spanish silbar, and the form with /u/ in Dalmatian sublar and Italian sobillare.^[5][6][1] The Latin variant sīfilō gave French siffler, whence Romanian persifla.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1673, in Dosoftei: a fire „șuierând” “hissing” in the Lives of the Saints, and the curse of the verse Psalter that passers-by should hiss at the empty houses of the wicked, „Să șuiere cine-a-ntra să vadză”.^[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The first senses are the hiss of snakes and fire; in Moldavia especially the verb also means to whistle.^[7] The Bible of 1688 uses the verb eight times.^[11] Later came the transitive sense “to hiss at, boo” a performer, recorded in Eminescu, and the sense “to whistle a tune”.^[7][4] In the modern language it is used above all of the wind and of objects that cut through the air.^[4][12]

Timeline

• 1673 – șuiere “let him hiss” in Dosoftei's verse Psalter, the first record.^[7][2][3]
• 1688 – eight uses in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) Of the wind or a storm: to howl, to make a sharp, loud sound.^[4][1]
2. (intransitive) Of objects: to whiz, making a brief shrill sound as they cut through the air: Gloanțele șuierau pe deasupra capetelor.^[4][1]
3. (intransitive) Of people: to whistle shrilly, blowing between the lips, through the fingers or with an instrument.^[4][3]
4. (transitive, rare) To hiss at, boo; also to whistle a tune.^[4][7]
5. (intransitive) Of animals, birds and insects: to hiss or make their shrill cry.^[4][1]

Related words

• șuier
• șuierare
• șuierat
• șuierător
• șuierătură
• șuiet
• fluiera
• persifla
• Aromanian shuir

Usage notes

Ciorănescu writes the verb șuera, a variant spelling.^[5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. șuiera
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1138
4. ^ 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. 1096
5. ^ a b c d e Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. șuera
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7890
7. ^ 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. șuiera
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1013
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 937
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 89
11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ieremia 19:8
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 367