ieri

Forms

ieri^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin herī (“yesterday”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian aieri or Aromanian aeri, Megleno-Romanian ieri and Istro-Romanian ieri.^[2][5] Its Romance cognates include Italian ieri, French hier, Occitan er, Catalan ahir and Spanish ayer.^[2][6]

The variant aieri is usually explained from a Latin phrase with ad;^[2] Ciorănescu suggests instead that it took the initial a- found in other adverbs, such as acasă and aminte.^[2] De Vaan traces the Latin adverb to a Proto-Indo-European word that also gave Ancient Greek χθές (khthés, “yesterday”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb is recorded in the early 16th century, in Psalm 89:4 of the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, and in the same verse of Coresi's and the other later psalters of the century.^[8] Tiktin first cites it from the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[9] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses it 39 times, for instance „Ce că n-au venit feciorul lui Iesei și ieri și astăzi la masă?” “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, neither yesterday nor today?” (1 Samuel 20:27).^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

Besides the day before today, the word came to mean the recent past in general.^[4][3] It forms set phrases for parts of the previous day, such as ieri-seară “last night” and ieri-dimineață “yesterday morning”.^[4][3] The day before yesterday is alaltăieri, built like Italian ierlaltro and Old French l’autrier.^[5]

Timeline

• early 16th century – ieri in Psalm 89:4 of the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[8]
• 1570–1589 – the same verse in Coresi's psalters of 1570 and 1577, the Psaltirea Scheiană and the Psaltirea Ciobanu.^[8]
• 1688 – 39 occurrences in the Bucharest Bible.^[10][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. On the day before today, yesterday;^[4][1][3] ieri-noapte, ieri-seară “last night”.^[4][1][3]
2. In the past, especially the recent past: de azi, de ieri “only lately”.^[4]

Word family

• alaltăieri

Related words

• Aromanian aieri
• Latin herī

Usage notes

The phrase a căuta ziua de ieri “to look for yesterday” means to seek something that no longer exists.^[4] MDA2 also records a regional noun ieri, an enclosure near the house where lambs sleep, of unknown origin.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. ieri
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, 1107
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 488
5. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 66
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4115
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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 89:4
9. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ieri
10. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Sm 20:27