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mieriu

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word mieriu

mieriu1 blue

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1495 a record cited by Tiktin
Ultimate origin
Latin merus

Forms

mieriu m or n (feminine singular mierie, plural mierii)[1] Regional variants include mierău, mierâi, mierâu, mereu, mirâu and miriu.[2][3]

Etymology

The word for “blue” is formed from Romanian mier + -iu, from the regional adjective mier “blue”.[4][2][5][1] That adjective (also written mieru) is inherited from merus (“pure, unmixed”).[4][6][1]

Tiktin had called the word of unknown origin and records the Latin etymology only as DLR's view; Șăineanu also left it unexplained.[3][7] Ungureanu suggests instead merum, a name for wine, recalling Homer's wine-coloured sea.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1495, and a diminutive mierior appears in a document of 1554.[3] MDA2 and DLR quote first Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică of 1705: „ochii mierii în giur împregiur ca cum ar fi cu siurmea văpsiți” “blue eyes all round, as if painted with kohl”.[2][5][9]

Semantic evolution

Miron Costin wrote that the Greeks called this people Sarmatians from their “mierăi-albineți” eyes, that is, lizard's eyes.[3] The colour ranges from light blue to dark blue and violet, and in some places it means green.[2][5] The word belongs to Moldavia, Banat and Transylvania;[9][10] Barițiu's Hungarian dictionary of 1869 gives it for Hungarian kék (“blue”).[9][10] Folk riddles call the starry sky a blue gown full of chaff, „o rochie mierie” (or „o sucnă mirie”).[3][11] Bubă mierie “blue sore” is a popular name of a boil on the toe joints or the palm.[2]

Timeline

  • 1495 – the first record cited by Tiktin.[3]
  • 1554 – the diminutive mierior in a document.[3]
  • 1705 – ochii mierii “blue eyes” in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.[2][5]
  • 1869 – Barițiu gives mieriu for Hungarian “blue”.[10]
  • 1886 – Barcianu glosses it “sky blue”.[12]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (regional) blue, from light blue to dark blue or violet.[4][2][5]
  2. (popular) In bubă mierie: a boil on the toe joints or the palm.[2]
  3. (regional) green.[2]

mieriu2 honey-coloured

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1871 Laurian & Massim's dictionary
Ultimate origin
Latin mel
Etymology tree of mieriu2
inherited borrowed derived
Romanian miere
Romanian mieriu

Forms

mieriu m or n (feminine singular mierie, plural mierii)[1]

Etymology

The word for “honey-coloured” is formed from Romanian miere + -iu.[4][2][5][1] miere “honey” is from Vulgar Latin *melem, for mel (“honey”).[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and DLR first find it in Laurian and Massim's dictionary of 1871, which glosses it with Latin melleus (“of honey”).[2][5][14]

Semantic evolution

Beside the colour of honey, folk songs use it of fair hair: „Vine mîndrul cel mieriu” “here comes my fair-haired sweetheart”.[5][2] Of eyes it means hazel, a sense the Romanian linguistic atlas records.[5][2]

Timeline

  • 1871 – in Laurian and Massim's dictionary, the first record.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. honey-coloured.[4][2][1]
  2. blond, fair-haired.[2][5]
  3. (of eyes) hazel.[2][5]

Usage notes

DEX and DLR number the two adjectives mieriu¹ “blue” and mieriu² “honey-coloured”; both have the feminine mierie and the plural mierii.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 8
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. mieriu
  4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 652
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mieriu
  6. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mieru
  7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 398
  8. ^ Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier, p. 342
  9. ^ a b c Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 185
  10. ^ a b c Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 289
  11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 74
  12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 382
  13. ^ 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. miere
  14. ^ Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. mieriu

Related etymologies

  • apă · also from Latin
  • bun · also from Latin
  • unde · also from Latin
  • veni · also from Latin
  • noi · also from Latin
  • bine · also from Latin
  • un · also from Latin
  • și · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Mieriu.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/mieriu. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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