geamăt

Forms

geamăt n (plural gemete)^[1] Variants are gemăt and gemet, with the same plural gemete: Eminescu writes „Mă arde-n spate! — zise fata c-un gemăt apăsat” “It burns my back! the girl said with a heavy groan”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gemitus (“groan, sigh”), from gemō (“to groan”).^{[3][5][2][6][7][1]} Ciorănescu, who names Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW for this etymon, thinks it may just as well be a formation from Romanian geme + -et made in Romanian, like freamăt and treacăt.^[8]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian dzeamit.^[9][10] Other descendants are Italian gemito and, by one account, Albanian gjëmë (“lamentation, disaster”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, at Exodus 6:5.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word names the inarticulate sound of someone in pain of body or mind, and figuratively the moaning sound of the wind or water.^[3][5] Poets used it for the murmur of water and the sigh of the wind: Sadoveanu has a breath of wind that passed „ca un gemăt dulce” “like a sweet moan” through the branches.^[2][11] Șăineanu also gives the sense “complaint, lament”, as in gemetele poporului “the groans of the people”.^[12]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – the Palia de la Orăștie, Exodus 6:5, the first record.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A groan, a moan: the inarticulate sound made by someone in pain: Din camera bolnavului se auzea un geamăt.^[3][1]
2. (figurative) The moaning, murmur or roar of the wind, the sea and other forces of nature.^[3][5]

Related words

• geme
• gemător
• Aromanian dzeamit
• Latin gemitus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. gemet
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 431
4. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 547
5. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 980
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. geamăt
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3724
8. ^ 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. geme
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 367
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 270