frig

Forms

frig n (plural friguri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin frīgus (“cold, frost”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The plural friguri “fever” continues a Latin use: Celsus already used the noun for the shivering of fever, and its plural is recorded with the sense “fever” in later Latin.^[6][5][2] The Latin noun comes from Proto-Indo-European *sríHgos and is cognate with Ancient Greek ῥῖγος (rhîgos, “cold, frost”).^[1][7]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian frig and Megleno-Romanian frig.^[8][9][2] The REW records the noun in Romance only in Romanian and in Campidanese frius.^[10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), in its text of Acts 27:20, with the sense “cold”.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

The noun names both the low temperature and the feeling it gives: e frig “it is cold”, mi-e frig “I am cold”.^[11][4] The phrase frigul morții is the chill of fear before mortal danger.^[3]

The plural friguri means “fever, the shivers”, as in the Bucharest Bible of 1688: „Soacra lui Simon zăcea de friguri prinsă” “Simon's mother-in-law lay sick of a fever” (Mark 1:30).^[11] It came to name malaria and other fevers, and figuratively a state of feverish excitement: Vlahuță wrote of „frigurile jocului de cărți” “the fever of card-playing”.^[4][3][11] Popular remedies for fever gave plant names: frigurică or iarbă de friguri for the centaury.^[11][6] A regional singular frigură was formed from the plural.^[4][6]

Ciorănescu notes that friguros “chilly” might continue Latin frigorosus directly, as Pușcariu and Candrea–Densusianu held.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – frig “cold” in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[3][11]
• 1688 – friguri “fever” in the Bucharest Bible (Mark 1:30).^[11]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses frigu with Latin frigus.^[12]
• 1865 – Pisone glosses frig. de-a treia zi with Latin tertiana febris.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. cold: a low temperature of the surroundings; the feeling of cold it causes: Mi-e frig la picioare.^[4][3][1]
2. (in the plural) fever, the shivers that come before a fever.^[4][3][1]
3. (in the plural) malaria.^[4][3]
4. (in the plural, figurative) A state of strong agitation or excitement.^[4]

Word family

• frigor
• friguros
• înfrigurat

Related words

• Aromanian frig
• Latin frīgus

Usage notes

The phrase a nu-i face nici cald, nici frig means “to leave someone indifferent”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. frig
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 944
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 415
5. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 56
6. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. frig
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 469
9. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 175
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ 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. frig
12. ^ 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. 226
13. ^ Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 136