gelos

Forms

gelos m or n (feminine singular geloasă, masculine plural geloși, feminine/neuter plural geloase)^[1] Tiktin records the variants geloz and jelos, and MDA2 a regional jaluz.^[2][3] The DA calls jaluz a gallicism of the Romanians of Austria-Hungary.^[4] In Negulici's dictionary of 1848 it is printed in the transitional alphabet as ЏEΛOS.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian geloso (“jealous”), according to DER, DEX, MDA2, the DA, Tiktin and Wiktionary.^{[6][7][3][4][2][1]} Ciorănescu dates the borrowing to the 19th century.^[6] Scriban compares French jaloux as well.^[8] The Italian word goes back to Late Latin zēlōsus, from zēlus (“zeal”), from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”).^[9][1] Nocentini notes that the Latin adjective took its sense from Church Latin, where zēlōtēs was an attribute of God, who allows no rival love.^[9]

Romanian has two doublets from the same source: zelos “zealous”, which the DA compares, and jaluzea “Venetian blind”, which comes through French jalousie.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1800, with the sense “jealous”.^[2] The DA's earliest quotations come from Costache Negruzzi's poems: „Dar sânt gelos” “but I am jealous”, and a camel that is geloasă “envious” on seeing a goat.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word had two senses: jealousy in love and envy of others' goods or success.^[4][2] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 gives both, with the French phrases jaloux de sa femme and jaloux de la gloire d'autrui.^[10] A third use, “holding something dear and fearing to lose it”, appears in Odobescu, who wrote of the Dacians as geloși de libertățile lor “jealous of their freedoms”.^[4][11] The sense “envious” is now rare.^[7]

Italian geloso is recorded from before 1250, in Giacomo da Lentini.^[12]

Timeline

• 1800 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary, glossed with Latin zelotypus.^[5]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary gives the senses “jealous” and “envious”.^[10]
• 1872 – Costache Negruzzi's collected writings, MDA2's first record and the DA's first quotations.^[4][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. jealous: suffering from jealousy, suspecting a partner of infidelity; also as a noun, a jealous person.^[7][3]
2. Holding something dear and afraid of losing it; possessive.^[7][3]
3. (rare) envious, invidios.^[7][3]

Word family

• gelozie

Related words

• zelos
• jaluzea
• jaluzie

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. gelos
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 981
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. gelos
5. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. gelos
6. ^ a b c 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. gelos
7. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 432
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 547
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. geloso
10. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 475
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 368
12. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. geloso