bere

bere¹ beer

Pronunciation

• /ˈbe.re/^[1]

Forms

bere f (plural beri)^[1]

Etymology

The word for beer is borrowed from German Bier, its form shaped by association with bere² “drinking”, the long infinitive of bea.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Ciorănescu credits the explanation to Densusianu.^[3] Scriban also named Italian birra and French bière beside the German word.^[7]

The German noun goes back to Old High German bior, whose origin is uncertain: perhaps Late Latin biber (“drink”), from bibō (“to drink”), or a Germanic word connected with brauen (“to brew”).^[2][8][9] Aromanian took its word for beer from the Italian one instead.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ciorănescu notes that a brewery at Iași appears in documents of 1560 and that the word must have been in use by the 16th century;^[3][6] Tiktin takes 1560 as its first date.^[3][6] The DA's first quotation is a Moldavian inventory of 1588 with „o căldare mare de bere” “a large beer cauldron”.^[10] DELR dates the word to about 1675, when Miron Costin wrote of Germans „învățați cu bere și cu horilcă” “used to beer and vodka”.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The word names the drink and, elliptically, a glass, mug or bottle of it; only in that sense does it have a plural.^[10][5] Its derivatives are old: berar “brewer, beer seller” appears in 1606 in a Slavonic document, and in Romanian with berărie “brewery, beer hall” in Grigore Maior's lexicon of 1759–1765.^[2] Klein's dictionary of 1801 has bere and gives the earliest record of berărie known to Gáldi.^[11] The Lexicon of Buda (1825) glossed it with Latin cerevisia, Hungarian ser and German Bier, deriving it from Italian birra.^[12] Bulgarian borrowed the word as Bulgarian бера (bera).^[1]

Timeline

• 1560 – a brewery at Iași in Moldavian documents, the date Tiktin gives the word.^[3][6]
• 1588 – o căldare mare de bere in a Moldavian inventory.^[10]
• 1606 – berar “brewer” in a Slavonic document.^[2]
• c. 1675 – bere in Miron Costin's chronicle.^[2]
• 1759–1765 – berar and berărie in a Romanian lexicon.^[2]
• 1780–1801 – berăriță “woman brewer, brewer's wife” in Samuil Micu.^[2]
• 1870 – berăreasă “woman beer seller” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. beer: a weak alcoholic drink made by fermenting an infusion of malt boiled with hops.^[5][4]
2. A kind or a serving of beer.^[5]
3. (elliptical) A glass, mug or bottle of beer: Două beri, vă rog.^[5][10]

Word family

• berar
• berărie
• berăriță
• berăreasă

bere² drinking

Etymology tree of bere²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin bibō

French boire

Italian bere

Romanian bea

Romanian bere

Spanish beber

English bib

From the same root · bere²

Latin biber ← bibō

Latin bibulus ← bibō

Latin combibō ← bibō

Latin ēbibō ← bibō

Latin imbibō ← bibō

Latin perbibō ← bibō

Romanian băutor ← bea

Romanian zbea ← bea

Pronunciation

• /ˈbe.re/^[1]

Forms

bere f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the act of drinking is the long infinitive, formed from Romanian bea (“to drink”) + -re.^{[13][14][4][1]} The verb bea continues Latin bibō (“to drink”).^[13][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to the Psaltirea Scheiană of 1573–1578, and Tiktin quotes Psalm 101 from it.^[13][14] Candrea's glossary of the psalter gives the sense “drink, beverage”.^[16] MDA2's first record is Coresi's Psalter of 1577.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In old and popular use the word means both “drinking” and “drink”, often paired with mâncare “food”: Moxa's chronicle has „jocurile și berile și mâncările” “the games, the drinking bouts and the meals”, and a folk song „las' berea și mâncarea” “leave the drink and the food”.^[14][17] In Transylvania and Bukovina it is a party of the village youth at the start of the winter Carnival season, where young people meet; a young man who a dat în bere is of age to marry.^[14][4] The related berean “young men's feast” is recorded from 1890.^[13]

Timeline

• 1573–1578 – bere “drink” in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[13][14]
• 1577 – in Coresi's Psalter.^[4]
• 1890 – berean “young men's feast” in Marian.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare) The act of drinking.^[5][4]
2. (dated, often with mâncare) Drink, beverage; drinking and feasting.^[4][17]
3. (regional, Transylvania, Bukovina) A party of the village youth at the beginning of the winter Carnival season.^[4][14]

Word family

• berean