adevăr

Forms

adevăr n (plural adevăruri)^[1] The old language also had a feminine adevară “truth”: „Am mărturisit adevara” “I have confessed the truth” (Varlaam).^[2][3] In Moldovan Cyrillic it was written адевэр.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vērum (“what is true”), inside a Latin adverbial phrase meaning “truly” whose exact shape is disputed.^[4][5][1] Pușcariu, the REW and Scriban start from ad added to ad vērum.^[6][7][5] DELR favours this, since Aromanian di-aver (“indeed”) reflects the same phrase with ⟨dē⟩ in front, and explains ⟨adevăr⟩ by assimilation of an older ⟨*adăver⟩.^[4][6][7][5] Philippide and the DA start from ⟨ad⟩ with dē and vērō, the view of DEX and Ciorănescu.^[4][5][8][9] Candrea proposed a back-formation from a Latin verb *addeverō, and Pascu a Latin *addeverum, which Ciorănescu finds unlikely.^[5]

Similar adverbs exist in other Romance languages: Italian davvero, Sardinian abberu, Spanish de veras and Portuguese deveras.^[4][5][1] The word survives as Aromanian aver.^[5][6] The Latin adjective vērus (“true”) itself survives only in văr “cousin”.^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[4][11] The word was first an adverb, “truly”: Coresi writes „atunce adevăr află-ne-vom bogați” “then truly we shall find ourselves rich”.^[9][5][4] MDA2 dates its first record to Coresi's prayer book of 1564.^[3]

Semantic evolution

DELR and Ciorănescu describe the path adverb, adjective, noun.^[4][5] As an adverb it also stood for “amen”: „Adevăr, adevăr zic voao” “Verily, verily I say unto you” in the New Testament of 1648.^[9] The adjective “true” lasted into the 17th century, chiefly in Moldavia and Crișana.^[2] Varlaam has „închinătorii cei adeveri” “the true worshippers”.^[2][6][5] The noun “truth” then took over, and the adverbial use now survives only in phrases such as într-adevăr “indeed”.^[5][8] Modern senses include philosophical truth (adevăr obiectiv “objective truth”), religious truth and exactness.^[8]

Timeline

• early 16th century – adevăr in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4][11]
• 1559–1560 – adevărat “true”.^[4]
• 1560 – the verb adevăra “to confirm” in Coresi's catechism.^[4]
• 1564 – adevăr in Coresi's prayer book.^[3]
• 1643 – the adjective adeveri “true” in Varlaam's homilies.^[6]
• 1648 – „Adevăr, adevăr zic voao” “Verily, verily I say unto you” in the New Testament.^[9]
• 1649 – adevericiune “truth” in Mardarie's lexicon.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. truth: agreement between knowledge and reality; what really is or happened, as in într-adevăr “indeed”.^[8][1]
2. (religion) The truth of faith, as revealed.^[8]
3. Exactness, accuracy.^[8]

Adverb

1. (dated, regional) indeed, truly; formerly also “amen”.^[1][3][9]

Word family

• adevărat
• adeveri
• adeverință
• neadevăr
• neadevărat

Related words

• văr
• Aromanian aver
• Latin vērus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 43
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. 1, 15
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. adevăr
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. adevăr
6. ^ a b c d e Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 3
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9262
8. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 13
9. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. adevăr
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 108
11. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 5:10