gheară

Forms

gheară f (plural gheare)^[1] The variant ghiară is the head form in Ciorănescu; a manuscript of 1783 has „Acele doao păsări țiind în ghiarele lor câte o piatră” “those two birds, each holding a stone in its claws”.^[2][3][4] Moldavian and Banat speech also have gheră.^[3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed: DEX calls it unknown, and MDA2 leaves it open, only comparing Spanish garra and Portuguese garra.^[5][4] In Ciorănescu's view it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ungulāris, built on ungula (“hoof, claw”); the regular result would have been *înghiare, which speakers reanalysed as ⟨în ghiare⟩ “in the claws”, cutting off a form ⟨ghiare⟩.^[2] He compares unghie and adds that, since the word is missing from Aromanian, Megleno- and Istro-Romanian, it may rather be a Romanian formation from unghioară, the diminutive of that word, pronounced with initial /ɨn/.^[2] Wiktionary gives the same Latin derivation as one possibility.^[1]

Pușcariu, followed by the REW and the DA, proposed Vulgar Latin *garra, of Celtic origin and the source of the Spanish and Portuguese words, through a diminutive *garrula with metathesis to *glarra.^[2][6] Ciorănescu rejects it, because the Spanish etymology has been abandoned and the sounds do not fit Romanian.^[2] Scriban also related it to the Spanish word.^[7] Cihac derived it from zgâria “to scratch”, and Pușcariu later from German Kralle (“claw”).^[2] Tiktin finds the link with the Spanish word and with the verb for “scratch” doubtful.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a manuscript of 1783 printed in Gaster's chrestomathy, which tells of two birds holding a stone each in their claws.^[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

From the claws of birds of prey and beasts the word passed to people's hands and fingers, used with contempt, especially in idioms: a fi lung în gheare “to be light-fingered”, a-i tăia cuiva ghearele “to stop someone stealing”, a pune gheara pe cineva “to get one's hands on someone”.^[6][4] A scăpa din ghearele cuiva “to escape from someone's clutches” is quoted from Negruzzi and Ispirescu.^[6] Ciorănescu also records the sense “hook, gaff”, and Stati lists the Moldovan sense “hook of a gaff”.^[2][8] Technical language uses it for a claw-shaped gripping part of a machine.^[5]

Romanian made several words from it: the diminutive gheruță, the verbs înghera “to seize with the claws” and ghera “to scratch”, and gheran, the arm of a pair of pincers.^[2][3][4]

Timeline

• 1783 – ghiarele “the claws” in a manuscript printed by Gaster, the first record.^[3][4]
• 1870 – înghera “to seize with the claws” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[9]
• 1903 – the diminutive gheruță in Marian's book on insects.^[10]
• 1910 – gheran “handle” in Pamfile's work on home crafts.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A claw or talon: the sharp, curved horny nail at the tip of the toes of some reptiles, birds and mammals, used for attack and defence: Pisica și-a înfipt ghearele în perdea.^[5][4]
2. (figurative, colloquial, chiefly plural) Someone's hands or power, in idioms: a fi în ghearele cuiva “to be in someone's clutches”, a-și arăta ghearele “to show one's claws”, a fi în ghearele morții “to be at death's door”.^[5][4]
3. (technology) A claw-shaped part of a device, used for gripping or holding.^[5][4]

Word family

• gheruță
• înghera

Related words

• unghie
• Spanish garra

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ghiară
3. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. gheară
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 988
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 436
6. ^ 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. gheară
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 551
8. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 112
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1233
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 990