cerb

Forms

cerb m (plural cerbi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cervus (“stag, deer”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian tserbu and Megleno-Romanian țerb.^{[3][2][9][10]} Its Romance cognates include Italian cervo, French cerf, Spanish ciervo and Portuguese cervo.^[3][8]

The Latin word comes from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂wós, from *ḱerh₂- (“horn”).^[1] De Vaan explains it as originally “horned (animal)”, a derivative of the word for “horn” that seems to be shared by Italic and Celtic.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to about 1500.^[2] The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century has cerbul in Psalm 41:1 and cerbii in Psalm 28:8.^[12] Tiktin dates a record to 1506, and MDA2 cites the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Beside the animal, the word names the stag beetle, cerbul lui Dumnezeu “God's stag”, and a folk custom: at Christmas and on St John's Day a man in a deer's mask goes carolling from house to house.^[2][5][6] Pușcariu compared the Christmas play with Russian ones.^[7] In Moldova cerb is also an old ritual dance.^[13] Regionally it can be a ram or an ox with long horns.^[5] Plant names use it too: limba cerbului “hart's tongue fern”, spinul cerbului “buckthorn”.^[6]

Its family is old: cerboaică “hind” is recorded from 1691–1697, cerbărie “deer park” from 1822, and cerbar “stag beetle” from 1903.^[2] The feminine cearbă (1825) is taken from Latin *cerba by Candrea–Densusianu and the DA, or formed from cerb.^[2][14]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – cerbul in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[12][2]
• 1506 – a record dated by Tiktin.^[6]
• 1535 – the place name Cerbul.^[6]
• c. 1573-1578 – the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[5]
• 1691–1697 – cerboaică “hind”, in Teodor Corbea.^[2]
• 1822 – cerbărie “deer park”.^[2]
• 1825 – cearbă and cerboaie “hind”.^[2]
• 1903 – cerbar “stag beetle”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The red deer, a large slender forest ruminant with branching antlers and a short tail (Cervus elaphus), and cerb lopătar the fallow deer.^[4][5][1]
2. Cerbul lui Dumnezeu: the stag beetle.^[5][6]
3. A folk custom of the winter holidays in which a man masked as a deer goes carolling.^[5][2]
4. (regional) A ram or an ox with long horns.^[5]

Word family

• cearbă
• cerbar
• cerbărie
• cerbește
• cerbișor
• cerboaică
• cerboaie
• cerboi
• cerbuleț
• cerbușor
• cerbuț

Related words

• Aromanian tserbu
• Latin cervus

Usage notes

A fugi ca cerbul means “to run very fast”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. cerb
3. ^ a b c 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. cerb
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 171
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 361
6. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cerb
7. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 29
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1850
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1037
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 308
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ 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 41:1
13. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 54
14. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București