gerar

Forms

gerar^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ger (“frost, severe cold”) + -ar, literally the month of frost, as MDA2 and NODEX explain it.^[2][3][4] Most dictionaries see in it an older month name reshaped after the word for frost: DEX 2009 forms it on the noun after ianuarie, CADE and Șăineanu call it a popular alteration of ghenar, and the DA lists it among the forms of that month name remade by folk etymology.^[5][6][7][8] The two Maramureș dictionaries give the same two explanations side by side.^[9][10] The older name came through Slavonic from Greek and is a doublet of the learned month name.^[11][12]

Wiktionary instead takes it back to Late Latin ienuārius, a form of Latin Iānuārius (“January”): in its view an inherited form had its /n/ turned into /r/ by the rhotacism of Transylvanian dialects, and the word was only later reinterpreted as a derivative of the word for frost; it compares the doublet that came from Modern Greek Γενάρης (Genáris).^[1] None of the Romanian dictionaries cited here proposes an inherited form.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Vasile Alecsandri's collection of folk poems of 1866, as the popular name of January.^[2] The DA cites the same passage among the folk-etymological forms of ghenarie.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept one meaning, the first month of the year, and DEX 2009 and MDA2 label it popular.^[5][2] It is one of the folk names of the months: the Argeș glossary and the Maramureș dictionaries record it as the everyday name of January, with the regional forms gherar, ghenarie and gerariu in Maramureș.^[4][10] Ștef notes that in the farming year January, and February too, belongs to the time of carting out the manure.^[10] Stati lists it among the Moldovan regionalisms.^[13]

Timeline

• 1866 – gerar in Alecsandri's collection of folk poems, the first record.^[2][8]
• 1883 – in the periodical Columna.^[8]
• 1893 – Damé's dictionary glosses it with French janvier.^[14]
• 1931 – CADE explains it as ghenar remade under the influence of ger.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) January, the first month of the year.^[5][2][3][1]

Related words

• ger
• ghenarie
• ianuarie

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 986
3. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. gerar
4. ^ a b Constantinescu, Grigore; Constantinescu, Eugenia (2014), Glosar. Arealul etnocultural Argeș-Muscel, p. 49
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 435
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. gerar
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 272
8. ^ a b c d 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. ghenarie
9. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. gerar
10. ^ a b c Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. gerár
11. ^ 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. ghenarie
12. ^ 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. ianuarie
13. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 112
14. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État