nară

Forms

nară f (plural nări)^[1] A regional variant is nare; the old plural nari occurs in Coresi: „așijderea și la urechi, așijderea la nari” “likewise on the ears, likewise on the nostrils”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nāris (“nostril; nose”).^{[3][4][2][5][1]} The Latin word is related to nāsus (“nose”), with /s/ turned to /r/ between vowels,^[1][6] and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *Hneh₂-s- (“nose”).^[7]

It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian nari, where it means “nose”.^[1][8][9] The Romance cognates include Italian nare, Sardinian nare “nose”, Occitan nar and Catalan nars.^[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to the 16th-century Psaltirea Voronețeană (Psalm 113).^[5] MDA2 cites the Psaltirea Scheiană of about 1573–1578, and Coresi's Evanghelie has the plural nari for the nostrils anointed with oil.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The usual sense has always been “nostril”, of people, of animals' muzzles and of birds' beaks.^[2][4] In the old language, as in Aromanian, the singular could also mean the whole nose: the Bible of 1688 has „am dat cercel în narea ta” “I put a ring in your nose” (Ezekiel 16:12).^[5] REW notes the same sense “nose” in Aromanian and in the Banat.^[9]

Phrases built on the word describe pride: a se umfla în nări or a-și umfla nările “to give oneself airs”, and cu nările în vânt, first of horses galloping with outstretched necks, then of a haughty person.^[4][10][3] In shipbuilding the word was transferred to the metal tube through which the anchor chain runs.^[4][11]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – in the Psaltirea Voronețeană, the first record.^[5]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3]
• 1664 – nare glosses Slavonic ноздра “nostril” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1688 – narea “nose” and nările in the Bucharest Bible.^[5][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. nostril: each of the two outer openings of the nose of people, of the muzzle of some animals or of the beak of birds, through which they breathe and smell.^[4][2][1]
2. (nautical) A hawsepipe: a metal tube in the deck or side of a ship through which the anchor chain passes.^[4][11]

Related words

• nas
• Aromanian nari
• Latin nāris

Usage notes

Cu nările în vânt “with nostrils to the wind” means “with head held high, haughtily”;^[4][3] a se umfla în nări means “to put on airs”.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nară
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. 2, 94
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 689
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nară
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 850
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. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 696
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5826
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 159
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. nară
12. ^ 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. nare
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ezekiel 16:12