evreu

Forms

evreu m (plural evrei, feminine equivalent evreică)^[1]

Etymology

It is most likely borrowed from Old Church Slavonic евреинъ (evreinŭ), the Old Church Slavonic word for a Hebrew, whose plural was taken over first, the Romanian singular being made afresh from the plural.^[2][3][4][5] Gabinschi explains the singular as adapted to nouns with the same plural pattern, such as leu and zeu.^[6] Ciorănescu and Wiktionary take the word instead straight from Modern Greek Εβραίος (Evraíos);^[7][1] Tiktin names both the Greek and the Slavonic word.^[7][1][8]

The variant ovrei comes from the Medieval Greek form Byzantine Greek Ὀβραῖος (Obraîos), a variant of Ἑβραῖος (Hebraîos).^[2][7] The rarer variant ebreu was taken from French hébreu and Latin Hebraeus in the 19th century.^[2][5][7]

The Slavonic word, like Bulgarian евреин (evrein), is from Ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος (Hebraîos).^[9] Greek borrowed the name from Biblical Hebrew עִבְרִי (ʿiḇrī, “Hebrew”), probably through Aramaic עִבְרַי (ʿiḇray).^[1][2][10] Babiniotis lists the explanations of the Hebrew name: from a verb “to cross over”, from the ancestor's name “Eber”, which he finds the likeliest, or from Akkadian habiru.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of 1551–1553, has the form ovrei;^[2] Coresi's Liturghier of 1566 has the plural evrei.^[2] MDA2 dates the word by the Psaltirea Scheiană of about 1573–1578, where Tiktin reads ovreiu and ovreu.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the word names the Hebrews of the Bible: the Bible of 1688 translates the dispute in Acts 6:1 as „Făcutu-s-au răpștire elinilor cătră evrei” “there arose a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews”.^[8] Beside it the old language used jidov, and later colloquial usage had the pejorative jidan.^[8][5]

Most of the oldest records have the form with o-: ovreiesc is recorded from 1551–1553, ovreaică “Jewish woman” from 1559–1560 and ovreiaște “in the Jewish way, in Hebrew” from 1560–1561.^[2] DELR labels the form ovreu as pejorative today.^[2] The word also names the people of the modern state of Israel.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – ovrei and the adjective ovreiesc in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book, the first records.^[2]
• 1559–1560 – ovreaică “Jewish woman” in the Codex Bratul.^[2]
• 1560–1561 – ovreiaște in Coresi's Tetraevanghel.^[2]
• 1566 – the plural evrei in Coresi's Liturghier.^[2]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3][8]
• 1582 – evreiani and evreiane in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[2]
• 1688 – evrei in the Bucharest Bible.^[8][11]
• late 18th century – the collective evreime, as ovreime.^[2]
• 1845 – evreism and evreitate.^[2]
• 1871 – antievreiesc and evreofil.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. In the plural, the Jews: the people of the Jewish faith descended from the inhabitants of ancient Palestine and of other peoples who adopted Judaism; in the singular, a member of this people, a Jew or Hebrew.^[4][1]
2. The people of the present-day state of Israel; in the singular, one of them.^[4][3]

Adjective

1. (rare) Jewish, belonging to this people.^[2][3]

Word family

• evreică
• evreiesc
• evreiește
• evreime
• evreism
• ovreică
• antievreiesc
• neevreiesc

Related words

• ebraic
• Ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος (Hebraîos)

Usage notes

The feminine is evreică.^[1] The variant ovrei was common in older and popular use, and ovreu is now felt to be disparaging.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. evreu
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 848
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 367
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. evreu
6. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 101
7. ^ a b c d 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. evreu
8. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. evreu
9. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 475
10. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 397
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Acts 6:1