ger

Forms

ger n (plural geruri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gelū (“frost, cold”), also written gelum.^[2][3][1][4] Intervocalic /l/ became /r/, as the Lexicon of Buda already noted.^[5] The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”).^[1]

It survives in Aromanian as dzer.^[2][6][1] Its Romance cognates include Italian gelo, Occitan gel, Catalan gel, Spanish hielo and Portuguese gelo.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1448.^[7] In Romanian texts the word is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500–1520, in Psalm 147, “who can stand before his cold?”, and in the same verse in Coresi's psalter of 1577, MDA2's first record.^[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

The meaning “severe frost, bitter cold” has not changed since the 16th century.^[9][3] Phrases describe its strength: ger de crapă pietrele “a frost that splits the stones”, gerul Bobotezii “the Epiphany frost” for the harshest cold, ger uscat for dry frost and pui de ger for a sharp spell.^[11][10][9] In veterinary use it named a disease of cows in which the udder cracks.^[9][10]

The month name gerar “January” is linked with it: Hasdeu took it for a blend of Latin Ianuarius with ger, while Pascu derived it from ghenar, from Modern Greek γενάρι (genári).^[2]

Timeline

• 1448 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[7]
• c. 1500–1520 – gerului in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 147).^[8]
• 1577 – Coresi's psalter, MDA2's first record.^[10][9]
• 1580–1619 – geruri “frosts” in the Codex Sturdzanus, copied in those years.^[7]
• 1649 – gerul glosses Slavonic mrazŭ in Mardarie's lexicon.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A very low temperature in the depth of winter; severe frost, bitter cold: Afară e un ger de crapă pietrele.^[3][11][1]

Word family

• geros
• gerui
• geruială
• gerișor

Related words

• degera
• gerar
• Latin gelū

Usage notes

MDA2 has two learned homographs: the combining form -ger “bearer, bearing”, from French, Italian and Latin, and ger-, a variant of geronto- in words such as geriatrie.^[10][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ger
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 435
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3718
5. ^ 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. 237
6. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 61
7. ^ 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. ger
8. ^ 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 147:6
9. ^ 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. ger
10. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 986
11. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. ger
12. ^ 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. gerul
13. ^ Andrei, Nicolae (1987), Dicționar etimologic de termeni științifici: elemente de compunere greco-latine, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. s.v. ger