mieru

Forms

mieru m or n (feminine singular mieră, masculine plural mieri, feminine/neuter plural miere)^[1] The variant mier (feminine mieră) is recorded in the Romanian linguistic atlas.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin merus (“pure, unmixed”).^[2][3][1] Pușcariu discussed the etymology in the journal Dacoromania, and the REW lists the Transylvanian word meaning “blue” under the Latin word, beside Neapolitan miere (“neat wine”), Sardinian meru (of wine), Old French mier and Catalan mer.^[2][4] The Latin adjective was used especially of wine not mixed with water.^[5][6] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Indo-European *merH-o- (“remaining, pure”); the older comparison with Ancient Greek μαρμαίρω (marmaírō, “to flash, sparkle”) he finds unconvincing.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is Polizu's Romanian–German vocabulary of 1857.^[3] In 1869 Barițiu's Hungarian–Romanian dictionary gives mieru as a Transylvanian word for Hungarian kék (“blue”).^[8]

Semantic evolution

It is a regional word, used in the same sense as mieriu “blue”, the more common derivative.^[3][2] DLR finds it in Transylvanian sources and in the maps of the Romanian linguistic atlas.^[2]

Timeline

• 1857 – in Polizu's Romanian–German vocabulary, the first record.^[3]
• 1869 – a Transylvanian word for “blue” in Barițiu.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (regional) blue, bluish; the same as mieriu “blue”.^[3][2][1]

Related words

• mieriu
• Latin merus

Usage notes

The plural is mieri (masculine) and miere (feminine), which coincides with the noun miere “honey”.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mieru
3. ^ 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. 2, 9
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5535
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. merus
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. merus
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 Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 289