jur

Forms

jur n (plural jururi)^[1] Moldavian and older texts write giur: „În giuru-i se-ntinde un raiu de grădină” “around it stretches a paradise of a garden” (Alecsandri).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is usually taken as inherited from Latin gȳrus (“circle, ring”), which Latin borrowed from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle”).^[4][5][2][1] Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW give the same etymon, and compare Italian giro, Spanish giro, Portuguese giro and Occitan gir.^[3][6][7] Candrea–Densusianu explain the vowel /u/ by a Latin pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ close to /iu/.^[7]

Ciorănescu calls the origin uncertain: a change of /y/ to /iu/ would point to a loan made after the 10th century, which then leaves the initial /ʒ/ unexplained.^[3] He suggests that the variant ⟨giur⟩ may be the older form, altered from an expected *gir.^[3] Gabinschi pairs the word with the later loan gir from the same Latin source.^[8]

The word has an Aromanian counterpart, Aromanian giur.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (16th century), in James 3:6.^[9] The compound appears in Coresi's psalter of 1570: „Nu mă tem de mii de oameni ce cad împregiurul mieu!” “I am not afraid of the thousands of people who fall around me” (Psalm 3:6).^[9] The Anonymus Caransebesiensis (c. 1650–1700) glosses în jur with Latin circum.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun, “the space around someone or something”, is used mostly in phrases with prepositions: în jur and prin jur “around, nearby”, din jur “from around”, de jur împrejur “all around”.^[4][5] În jurul became a preposition: “around”, then “about, concerning” and “approximately”.^[4][5] The DA notes the phrase a face jurul “to go round” as modelled on French faire le tour, and a Transylvanian use of și jur “and its surroundings” as modelled on German.^[2]

The compounds împrejur and prejur built a family of their own: împrejura “to surround”, which the DA takes directly from Vulgar Latin *pergyrō, împrejurare “circumstance” and împrejurime “surroundings”.^[3]

Timeline

• 16th century – jur in the Codicele Voronețean.^[9]
• 1570 – împregiurul “around” in Coresi's psalter.^[9]
• c. 1650–1700 – în jur glossed circum in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[2]
• before 1771 – în jur împrejur in a document printed in the Uricariul.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The space around someone or something; surroundings, vicinity.^[4][1]
2. în jur, prin jur: around, nearby: Nu era nimeni prin jur.^[4]
3. din jur: from the surrounding area: satele din jur “the neighbouring villages”.^[4]
4. de jur împrejur: on all sides, all around.^[4]
5. în jurul: around; about, concerning; approximately: în jurul orei zece “around ten o'clock”.^[4]

Word family

• împrejur
• prejur
• dimprejur
• împrejura
• împrejurare
• împrejurime

Related words

• înconjura
• Latin gȳrus

Usage notes

Two other words are spelled jur: one, now obsolete, means “juror”: it was borrowed from French jury and survives in curte cu juri, the old jury court.^[4][5] The other, a popular back-formation from jura “to swear”, means “oath” and is recorded in folk poetry from 1910.^[4][5] Wiktionary marks this second word rare and dubious.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. jur
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. jur
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 569
5. ^ 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, 1294
6. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 80
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. jur
8. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 120
9. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. jur