nemernic

Forms

nemernic m or n (feminine singular nemernică, masculine plural nemernici, feminine/neuter plural nemernice)^[1] Old texts write nemearnic: „Nemearnic am fost și m-ați dus în casă” “I was a stranger and you took me in” (Varlaam's Cazania, Matthew 25:35).^[2][3] The Palia of 1581 has nimearnic: „Cum poți să birui acest pământ în care nimearnic ești” “how can you win this land in which you are a stranger”.^[2] MDA2 lists the archaic and regional nimernic and the regional nămernic.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic намѣрьнъ (naměrĭnŭ, “one who comes”), according to DEX 2009, MDA2, the DLR and Wiktionary.^[5][4][2][1] Tiktin explains the Slavic adjective as the past passive participle of the Slavic verb for “to come upon”, which also gave nimeri.^[3] Scriban gives a Slavonic form with the suffix ⟨-nik⟩ and compares Serbo-Croatian namernik, one who turns up by chance.^[6]

Ciorănescu derives it from nemeri (“to come upon by chance”) with the suffix -nic, or from a Serbo-Croatian word for a person who has arrived by chance.^[7] Șăineanu also took it from the verb.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Gospel book of 1551–1553, at Matthew 25:38, where the word means a stranger.^[3] MDA2 dates it to Coresi's Apostle of 1563, which has nemearnici for the proselytes.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The old sense was “come from elsewhere, foreign, wandering”, and in church language “passing, transient”.^[2][4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses it for Ancient Greek προσήλυτος (prosḗlutos, “newcomer”): „Pe cel nemernic să nu-l chinuiți” “do not oppress the stranger”.^[3] Miron Costin and Cantemir use it in the same sense.^[2][3]

From “wanderer” the word moved to “vagabond”, then to “wretched, pitiable” and “worthless”, and finally to “base, villainous”, the main sense today.^[8][4][5] Tiktin compares German elend (“wretched”), originally “far from home, foreign”.^[3] Ciorănescu refers to Șăineanu's semasiology for the shift.^[7] The Lexicon of Buda (1825) still gives only “foreign” and “foreigner”.^[9] Damé (1893–1895) lists the three stages: proselyte, stranger and vagabond, and good-for-nothing.^[10]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – the first record, in a Gospel book (Matthew 25:38).^[3]
• 1563 – nemearnici “proselytes” in Coresi's Apostle.^[4][2]
• 1581 – nimearnic “stranger” in the Palia.^[2]
• 1688 – nemernic for Greek “proselyte” in the Bucharest Bible.^[3][11]
• 1825 – “foreign, foreigner” in the Lexicon of Buda.^[9]
• 1875 – “miserable, good-for-nothing” in Antonescu's dictionary.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of a person) vile, infamous, base.^[5][4][1]
2. Worthless, good for nothing, incapable.^[5][4]
3. (popular) wretched, pitiable, poor.^[5][4]
4. (obsolete) Foreign, wandering, come from elsewhere.^[5][4]

Noun

1. A scoundrel or villain.^[5][1]
2. (obsolete) A stranger, a wanderer.^[5][4]

Word family

• nemernicie

Related words

• nimeri
• ticălos
• mișel

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nemernic
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nemernic
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 132
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 706
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 865
7. ^ a b 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. nemeri
8. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 426
9. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 432
10. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. nemernic
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 22:21
12. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 197