feri

Forms

feri (third-person singular present ferește, past participle ferit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed: DEX and MDA2 call it of unknown origin.^[2][3] Ciorănescu derives it inherited from Latin feriō (“to strike”), which he finds in Cicero with the sense “to keep, respect”.^[4] Tiktin and NODEX accept this.^[5][6] Wiktionary also prefers this verb “to strike”, with the sense moving from the reaction to a blow.^[1] The verb also lives in Aromanian afirescu and Megleno-Romanian fires.^[4][7]

Ciorănescu lists and rejects the other proposals: Philippide's derivation from afară “outside”, Cihac's Hungarian őriz (“to guard”), a Vulgar Latin *auferiō for auferō (“to carry away”), proposed by Candrea and the REW, and a *fēriō “to keep a feast”, from fēriae (“holidays”), proposed by DA and Rosetti.^[4][8] Papahagi derives the Aromanian verb from this form.^[7] Tamás thinks Drăganu's derivation from a Hungarian fér (“to have room”) family better than the others.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the 16th-century psalters: feri and feriră are in the Psaltirea Voronețeană (c. 1551–1558), and feresc in Coresi's Psalter of 1570.^[10][11] MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[3] The old texts use the verb in the senses “keep, observe” a feast or a commandment, and “preserve”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “keep, observe” is seen in Miron Costin, where the Tatars would not fight because they kept Friday.^[5][3] From “preserve” the verb came to mean “guard, protect”, and with the reflexive “guard oneself, avoid, hide” and “step aside”.^[3][4][2] Invocations such as Doamne ferește! “God forbid!” and Ferească Dumnezeu! became exclamations of refusal or surprise.^[3][5] Ferit-a sfântul means “by no means”.^[5]

In Transylvania and Bukovina the imperative feri! is a call to step aside.^[3][12]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – feri and feriră in the Psaltirea Voronețeană.^[10]
• c. 1563–1583 – the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1570 – feresc in Coresi's Psalter.^[11]
• 1649 – feri in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1688 – feri, ferit and other forms in the Bucharest Bible.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, reflexive) To guard or protect (oneself) from a danger, mistake or risk;^[2][1] Doamne ferește!, Ferească Dumnezeu! “God forbid!”.^[2][1]
2. (reflexive) To avoid someone, keep out of sight; to hide, flee.^[2][1]
3. (reflexive, transitive) To dodge, step aside or draw back.^[2][1]
4. (archaic) To keep or observe a holiday or a commandment.^[3][1]

Word family

• fereală
• ferință
• feritor
• ferire

Related words

• Aromanian afirescu

Usage notes

The phrase a trăi ca Doamne ferește means “to live very badly”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 389
3. ^ 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, 895
4. ^ a b c d e 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. feri
5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. feri
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. feri
7. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 62
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3642
9. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 335
10. ^ 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 118:166
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 118:8
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. feri
13. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. feri
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ex 22:17