țărm

Forms

țărm n (plural țărmuri)^[1] The older singular was țărmur or țărmure: Dosoftei tells of a saint taken „să-l dea de râpă dintr-un țărmure nalt” “to be thrown down from a high bank”.^[2] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has țermure (Genesis 49:26).^[2] A masculine plural țărmi also occurs.^[2][3]

Etymology

The modern form is a singular taken from the plural ⟨țărmuri⟩ of the older țărmur.^[4][5][6] Its likely source is inherited from Latin termen (“boundary stone”).^[6][4][1] Tiktin compares the sense shift with margine and French bord.^[2] termen goes back to Proto-Indo-European *térmn̥ (“boundary”).^[1][7]

To explain the /r/ of the older form, Pușcariu proposed a diminutive *termulus, formed like *virgula beside virgō.^[8] MDA2 and the DLR accept it.^[4][9] Ciorănescu rejects Hasdeu's *termōnem and finds Ascoli's accusative *terminem insufficient.^[6] He prefers the Latin plural termina, with /n/ assimilated to /r/ and the ending remade like the plurals in ⟨-uri⟩.^[6] Tiktin starts from terminus with a change of suffix.^[2]

The REW lists Portuguese termo (“boundary stone”) among the descendants of the Latin word.^[10] Romanian later borrowed the same Latin word as termen.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1519, in a Slavonic–Romanian charter.^[2] In Romanian texts MDA2's first record is Coresi's Cazania of 1581, which tells how the herd rushed from the shores of the sea and drowned.^[4][9] The DLR also quotes the forms tă[r]murele of 1593 and termurile of 1618.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word meant a boundary; in Romanian it came to mean the edge of the water, the shore.^[2][4] By extension it also means the region beside a body of water.^[5] Figurative senses are “limit” and “land, realm”;^[4][5] fără de țărmuri means “boundless”.^[4][5]

The regional senses keep the idea of a rise of ground: a steep slope, a precipice, a hill ridge, a mountain, a mound in the water or an island in a lake, a mill dam.^[4] Țârmure de neauă is a regional word for a snowdrift.^[4] Derivatives are țărmuri “to limit”, nețărmurit “boundless” and țărmuros “steep”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1519 – first record, in a Slavonic–Romanian charter.^[2]
• 1581 – țărmurile mării “the shores of the sea” in Coresi's Cazania.^[4][9]
• 1593 – tă[r]murele.^[9]
• 1618 – termurile.^[9]
• 1688 – țărmurile râului “the banks of the river” in the Bucharest Bible (Genesis 41:17).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. shore, coast: a strip of land along a large body of water, especially the sea; by extension, the region beside it: Am mers pe țărmul mării.^[5][1]
2. bank of a river.^[1][4]
3. (figurative) Land, realm, region.^[5]
4. (figurative) Limit.^[4]
5. (regional) A steep slope or hill.^[4]

Word family

• nețărmurit
• țărmuri
• țărmuros

Related words

• termen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. țărm
3. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 535
4. ^ 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, 1319
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1159
6. ^ 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. țărm
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 158
9. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. țărm
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8665