cer

cer¹ Turkey oak

Pronunciation

• /t͡ʃer/^[1]

Forms

cer m (plural ceri)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the Turkey oak is inherited from Latin cerrus (“Turkey oak”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} It survives south of the Danube and in Istria as Aromanian țer and Istro-Romanian cer.^[2][3][6] The Latin word also gave Italian cerro, and was borrowed as Albanian qarr.^[2][7][1] Pliny mentions the tree as unknown in Italy, and Schuchardt took the Latin word to be borrowed from a Berber name of the oak.^[1] The Italian DELI calls it pre-Indo-European, while Nocentini links it with quercus (“oak”).^[8][9]

The same word exists in South Slavic, as Bulgarian цер (cer) and Serbo-Croatian cer, and in Hungarian cser.^[2][6][10] Miklosich and Berneker took the Slavic word straight from Latin, and Cihac thought that Romanian had it from Slavic.^[2] The REW makes Romanian the source of both the South Slavic and the Hungarian words, and Candrea also derived the Hungarian from Romanian.^[7][2] The Hungarian dictionaries take the Hungarian word, recorded from 1193, from South Slavic, the Slavic word coming in its turn from the Latin of the Balkans.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1334, in a place name of the dictionary of Transylvanian localities.^[5] DELR's first date is also a place name, of 1577; the collective ceret “Turkey oak wood” is recorded in 1400.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The tree is a large oak with blackish bark, grown in the plains and low hills and much sought as firewood;^[4][13] DEX also uses the word for that wood.^[4][13] Its hard wood gave the popular phrase cer-bocnă “hard as bone”.^[14][15] The word formed a small family of tree names: the augmentative ceroi, recorded from 1884 in Oltenia, Banat and Făgăraș, the diminutive ceruleț, of about 1650, and ceroaică, the holm oak, from 1872.^[3]

Timeline

• 1334 – a Transylvanian place name, the first record.^[5]
• 1400 – the collective ceret “Turkey oak wood”.^[3]
• 1577 – a place name, the first record DELR gives.^[3]
• c. 1650 – the diminutive ceruleț.^[3]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses Cer with Latin quercus and Hungarian tölgyfa.^[16]
• 1872 – ceroaică “holm oak”.^[3]
• 1884 – the augmentative ceroi.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The Turkey oak (Quercus cerris), a large tree of the beech family, up to 30 m high, with blackish bark and leathery leaves, bearing acorns.^[4][1]
2. The wood of this tree, used as firewood.^[4][15]

Word family

• ceret
• ceroaică
• ceroi
• ceruleț

cer² sky

Etymology tree of cer²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin caelum

French ciel

Italian cielo

Romanian cer

Spanish cielo

From the same root · cer²

Latin caelestis ← caelum

Latin caelicola ← caelum

Latin caelifer ← caelum

Latin caelō ← caelum

Latin caeruleus ← caelum

Pronunciation

• /t͡ʃer/^[1]

Forms

cer n (plural ceruri)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the sky is inherited from Latin caelum (“sky, heaven”).^{[2][17][4][1][6]} It survives in all four branches: Aromanian țer, Megleno-Romanian țer and Istro-Romanian čer.^[2][17][18] Its Romance cognates include Italian cielo, French ciel, Catalan cel, Spanish cielo and Portuguese céu; and Albanian has qiell, a loan from Latin.^[2][19][20] DELR calls it a word common to the whole Romance area.^[17]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kailom and sets it beside Proto-Indo-European *keh₂i-lo- (“whole”); others connect it with caedō (“to cut”).^[21][1][22]

According to Miklosich, the word passed into Romani as čero.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century has cerul and cerului.^[23] DELR dates the word to about 1500, MDA2 to the Codicele Voronețean of about 1563–1583, and Tiktin's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[17][15][24] The old texts also write it ceriu.^[17][24]

Semantic evolution

Besides the visible vault of the sky and the space in which the stars move, the word means the air and atmosphere, as in păsările cerului “the birds of the air”, and heaven as the dwelling of God and the blessed, often in the plural ceruri.^[4][15][24] By metonymy it stands for the divine power itself; the exclamation Cerule! “Heavens!” imitates French ciel! in translations.^[4][24]

The cerul gurii, the palate, is shared by the other branches and by Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and northern Italian dialects, which name the palate “the sky of the mouth”.^[6][19] In Istro-Romanian, older speakers remember that čer once meant the palate, now called nebo.^[18] The word has also meant a canopy over a bed or throne and, in the Rodna mountains and Bucovina, a pole along a sheepfold.^[25][2]

The derivative ceresc “heavenly” is recorded from 1563–1583; its figurative sense “enchanting” follows French céleste.^[17]

Timeline

• early 16th century – cerul in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[23]
• c. 1563–1583 – the first record MDA2 gives, in the Codicele Voronețean; the adjective ceresc is of the same years.^[15][17]
• 1688 – „ca stelele ceriului” “as the stars of the heaven” in the Bucharest Bible (Genesis 22:17).^[24]
• 1880 – the adverb cerește “divinely”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sky: the endless space in which the stars are, and especially the part of it seen above the horizon, which looks like a dome; the firmament.^[4][1]
2. The air, the atmosphere: păsările cerului “the birds of the air”.^[4]
3. (often in the plural) heaven, paradise; by extension, the divine power, providence.^[4][1]
4. cerul gurii: the roof of the mouth, the palate.^[4][2]
5. (dated) A canopy over a bed or a throne.^[2][25]

Word family

• ceresc
• cerește