ghem

Forms

ghem n (plural gheme)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *glemus (“ball of thread”), a popular form of Latin glomus (“ball of yarn”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Pușcariu and Tiktin note that the ⟨e⟩ also appears in Venetian gemo and in Albanian, and de Vaan takes it as a remnant of the older Latin vowel: he reconstructs Proto-Italic *glemos and Proto-Indo-European *glem-o/es-, with ⟨o⟩ arising later in Latin after the velar ⟨l⟩.^[4][7][8] Ciorănescu adds that the vowel could also have changed in Romanian, from ⟨*ghiom⟩ through an assimilated plural ⟨*ghiome⟩ > ⟨gheme⟩.^[3]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian gljem (beside gljom), Megleno-Romanian gl'em and Istro-Romanian gl'em.^{[3][9][10][11]} The form with ⟨o⟩ continues in Italian ghiomo, and Ciorănescu compares Albanian lëmsh.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the personal name Ghemuleț, a diminutive, in a Slavonic–Romanian document of 1570.^[7] As a common noun it is glossed in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of about 1660 (ghemul), and Klein's dictionary of 1801 has Ghem “glomus”.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

The word means a ball of wound thread, yarn or string; by extension, any tight bundle or lump.^[2][3] Its shape gave phrases of the body: a se face ghem “to curl up”, the verb ghemui “to huddle”, and inima i se strânse ca un ghem “his heart clenched with fear”.^[2][7] A se mântui ața de pe ghem “the thread runs out on the ball” means “to be near death”.^[14] In anatomy the word names the third compartment of a ruminant's stomach.^[2][14] The derivative ghemotoc means a crumpled lump.^[3]

Timeline

• 1570 – the personal name Ghemuleț.^[7]
• c. 1660 – ghemul in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1801 – Ghem in Klein's dictionary.^[13]
• 1825 – Ghemu “glomus” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[15]
• 1875 – Alecsandri's poems, MDA2's first record.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ball of thread, yarn or string, made by winding it.^[2][14]
2. The third compartment of a ruminant's stomach, the omasum.^[2][14]

Word family

• ghemotoc
• înghemui
• ghemui

Related words

• fir
• aglomera
• Aromanian gljem

Usage notes

The plural is gheme, also ghemuri.^[2] A face ghem is “to wind into a ball” or “to crumple”, and a se face (or a sta) ghem “to huddle”.^[2] DEX lists a separate ghem² “game” in tennis, a subdivision of a set, borrowed from English game and also written game; its plural is ghemuri.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 436
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. ghem
4. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 61
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3801
7. ^ 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. ghem
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 496
10. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 223
11. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
12. ^ a b 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. ghemul
13. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 366
14. ^ 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, 989
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. ghem