iar

Forms

Variant: iară.^[2] The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (early 16th century) writes iară and ară (Psalms 3:3, 26:6).^[3][4] The Psaltirea Scheiană has ere (Psalm 95:5).^[5] MDA2 records the old variants ară, are, eră, ere and eri, and ar in Banat.^[6]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][1] Ciorănescu, following Schuchardt, Gaston Paris, Meyer-Lübke, Pușcariu and the REW, thinks it is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *era (“also”).^[7][8] The REW compares Romansh eir (Engadine) and Occitan er or ara “also, now”, and Ciorănescu adds Old French ar.^[7][8] Tiktin also finds the Romanian word to share its origin with these Romance forms.^[9] The REW thinks a link with Ancient Greek ἄρα (ára) unlikely, because the Greek form is so local.^[8]

The word has Aromanian iar or iara and Megleno-Romanian ară.^[7][10] Scriban compared Serbian forms.^[11] Șăineanu and DEX call its origin unknown.^[12][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in the earliest Romanian texts: the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century has iară and ară.^[3] Tiktin cites the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 18:15), and MDA2 the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[9][6] In the old language it served both as the adverb “again” and as a conjunction “but; and”.^[9][6]

Semantic evolution

As an adverb it means “again” and, popularly, “likewise, too”, as in Creangă's tale where the old man had a daughter and the old woman iar a daughter.^[13][9] As a conjunction it opposes or links clauses: “whereas, but” and “and”.^[2][13] The old senses “yet, nevertheless”, “rather” after a negative clause, and a question particle have gone out of use.^[6][7]

The reinforced adverb iarăși “again” was formed with -și, as in totuși.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – iară and ară in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[3]
• c. 1563-1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[9]
• c. 1573-1578 – iar and ere in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[6][14]
• 1649 – iar and iară in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• 1688 – iară nearly 3,000 times in the Bucharest Bible.^[16]

Meanings

Adverb

1. again, once more; iarăși.^[2][1]
2. Likewise, too, also.^[2][13]

Conjunction

1. (adversative) but, whereas: el lucrează, iar ea citește “he works, whereas she reads”.^[2][1]
2. (copulative) and.^[2][13]

Word family

• iarăși

Related words

• Aromanian iar
• Megleno-Romanian ară

Usage notes

As a conjunction it always opens its clause.^[9] A separate regional noun iar (plural iare), “dry branch of a river”, is recorded in Arad county;^[17] DA compares a Turkish, Bulgarian and Ruthenian jar “steep bank”.^[17][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 484
3. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 3:3
4. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 26:6
5. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 95:5
6. ^ 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, 1098
7. ^ a b c d e 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. iar
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2886
9. ^ 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. iar
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 569
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 611
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 300
13. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 478
14. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 135:21
15. ^ 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. iar
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 1:2
17. ^ a b 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. iar