fier

Forms

fier n (plural fiare)^[1] The old literary language and Moldavian speech often have her or hier, and Tiktin also records fer.^[2][3] Dosoftei writes „Hiare înfocate le băgară în guri” “they thrust red-hot irons into their mouths”.^[2] Antim Ivireanul has the same form: „ca hierul dupe piatra magnetului” “like iron after the lodestone”.^[4] The plural is fiare;^[2] Tiktin records fiară in Muntenia and fiere in Moldavia.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ferrum (“iron”).^{[5][2][3][4][6][1]} The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian her, Megleno-Romanian ier and Istro-Romanian fľer.^[5][7][8][1] Its Romance cognates include Italian ferro, Dalmatian fiar, French fer, Occitan fer, Spanish hierro and Portuguese ferro.^[5][9]

The Latin noun itself is a loanword from an unidentified source; de Vaan thinks a Phoenician dialect possible.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean, which MDA2 dates to about 1563–1583: „Și zise se-l leage cu doao lanțure de fieru” “and he ordered him to be bound with two chains of iron”.^[4][3] Tiktin also cites the Psaltirea Scheiană, and Coresi's psalter of 1570 has the word several times.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Beside the metal, the word named things made of iron.^[2][5] In the plural, fiare meant “fetters, chains”, as do ferri, fers and hierros.^[6] A law code has „să-l bage în fiară și în temniță” “let him be put in irons and in prison”.^[2] Many tools are called fier: the ploughshare (fierul lat) and the coulter (fierul lung), the branding iron and the fier de călcat “flat iron”.^[2] In Argeș and Muntenia the word can also mean a hand saw.^[12][13]

Several phrases follow foreign models: drum de fier “railway” and fier alb “tin plate” imitate French, and fier bătut “wrought iron” and fier turnat “cast iron” were modelled on German in Transylvania.^[4] Figuratively de fier means strong or unyielding.^[14] Recent compounds and slang include fier-beton “reinforcing steel”, recorded from 1961, and a trage de fiare “to lift weights”.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – fieru in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[3][4]
• 16th century – the word in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2]
• 1570 – fier in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• 1649 – the word in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[16]
• 1688 – fier throughout the Bucharest Bible.^[17]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda lists feru with the senses “iron”, “branding iron”, “flat iron” and “curling iron”.^[18]
• 1961 – fier-beton “reinforcing steel”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. iron: a heavy grey metal, a chemical element, widely used in industry, especially alloyed with carbon; loosely, mild steel.^[14][3][1]
2. A tool or part of a tool made of iron or steel: a flat iron (fier de călcat), a curling iron, a plough blade, fire tongs and the like.^[14][1]
3. (in the plural) fetters, chains.^[14][5]

Word family

• fierar
• fierărie
• fierătaie
• înfiera
• înfierător

Related words

• fieros
• Aromanian her
• Latin ferrum

Usage notes

In the sense of the metal the noun has no plural; the plural fiare belongs to the tools and chains.^[14][1] Set phrases are epoca fierului “the Iron Age”, de fier “iron, unyielding” and a bate fierul cât e cald “to strike while the iron is hot”.^[14][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. fier
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, 901
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. fier
5. ^ 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. fier
6. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 52
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 554
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 154
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3262
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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 104:18
12. ^ Constantinescu, Grigore; Constantinescu, Eugenia (2014), Glosar. Arealul etnocultural Argeș-Muscel, p. 45
13. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 147
14. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 392
15. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. fier
16. ^ 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. fier
17. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gen 4:22
18. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 216