gri

Forms

gri m or f or n (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French gris (“grey”), a 20th-century loan.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The French word is recorded from 1140 and comes from Frankish *grīs (“grey”), which the DHLF reconstructs from Old Saxon grīs and Dutch grijs.^[6] Wiktionary takes the Frankish word back to Proto-Germanic *grīsaz and compares Old High German grīs.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The dictionaries of the 1950s have the first records: the DLRLC quotes Topîrceanu's Toamnă gri “grey autumn” and a grey travelling dress in a play by Mihail Sebastian.^[7] MDA2's first record is the dictionary of neologisms of 1961.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word is the colour of ash, a synonym of cenușiu and sur.^[2][8] Used as a neuter noun it names the colour itself, with the plural griuri.^[2][7]

After 2000 the press used it for what is half legal and half illegal, on the model of negru “black, illegal”: economie gri and muncă la gri, work declared for fewer hours than are worked.^[9] In advertising slang it means neutral, not affiliated.^[10]

Timeline

• 1955 – in the DLRLC, with quotations from Topîrceanu and Sebastian.^[7]
• 1958 – the DLRM defines it as “ash-coloured”, from French.^[11]
• 1961 – in the dictionary of neologisms, MDA2's first record.^[4]
• 2002 – economie gri “grey economy” in the press.^[9]
• 2008 – muncă la gri “partly undeclared work”.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. grey, ash-coloured, cenușiu; invariable: un palton gri, o fustă gri.^[2][8][1]
2. (of economic activity) Partly legal and partly illegal, to avoid taxes: economie gri, muncă la gri.^[9]
3. (slang, advertising) Neutral, not affiliated.^[10]

Noun

1. The colour grey: un gri deschis “a light grey”.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• French gris

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 450
3. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. gri
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1023
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. gri
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gris
7. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 416
8. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. gri
9. ^ a b c d Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. gri
10. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. gri
11. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. gri