greață

Forms

greață f (plural grețuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian greu (“heavy”) + -eață, like dulceață.^[2][3][4][5] Ciorănescu prefers the feminine grea as the base.^[6]

An older view derives it directly from Latin: Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW from *grevitia, built on *grevis, the popular form of Latin gravis (“heavy”);^[7][8][9] Byhan from gravitiēs.^[7][8][9][6] They compare Occitan greveza “heaviness”.^[7][9] Ciorănescu considers the Latin etymology less likely, and Pușcariu himself allowed that the word could be a Romanian formation.^[6][7] The noun survives south of the Danube: Aromanian greatsã, which Papahagi also takes from the Latin form.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[3] There the word means “force, violence”: the stern of the ship broke up „de greața undelor” “by the force of the waves” (Acts 27:41), and the captain Lysias took Paul away „cu multă greață” “with great violence” (Acts 24:7).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The 16th-century senses are “weight”, “difficulty” and “violence, persecution”: the Palia of 1582 has Moses say „grăiesc cu greață și am limbă grea” “I speak with difficulty and have a heavy tongue”.^[5][4] Old phrases were a greață “with difficulty” and a-i fi cuiva greață “to be loath to”.^[5][3]

The DA explains the modern meaning as a shift like that of silă: from what “weighs on” someone to the bitter feeling it causes, and then to nausea.^[5] Pușcariu glossed it as heaviness of the stomach.^[7] The figurative “disgust, aversion” follows.^[2] In Maramureș the old sense “difficulty, toil” survives.^[12] Colloquial Romanian has a nu avea grețuri “to have no qualms”, recorded from 1979.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – greață “force, violence” in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[3][4]
• 1574 – the Tetraevanghel: „greață lui făcea” “they did him violence”.^[5]
• 1582 – cu greață “with difficulty” in the Palia.^[5]
• 1649 – Mardarie's lexicon uses greață to gloss a Slavonic verb for “to be ashamed”.^[14]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses it with Latin nausea and taedium.^[15]
• 1979 – a nu avea grețuri “to have no qualms” in the press.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. nausea: an unpleasant feeling in the stomach, often with the urge to vomit.^[2][3][1]
2. (figurative) disgust, aversion, loathing for someone or something.^[2][16]
3. (obsolete) Weight; difficulty; force, violence.^[3][5]
4. (slang) A disgusting, contemptible person.^[17]

Word family

• grețos
• îngrețoșa
• îngreța

Related words

• greu
• greutate
• Aromanian greatsã

Usage notes

The plural is grețuri; old texts also have grețe.^[3] Îmi vine greață is “I feel sick” and mi-e greață “I feel sick;^[4] I am disgusted”, with de for the cause.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 449
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, 1020
4. ^ 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. greáță
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. greață
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. greață
7. ^ a b c d e Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 63
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. greață
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3855
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 499
11. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 95
12. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. greáță
13. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. greáță
14. ^ 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. greață
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. 244
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. greață
17. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. greață