nerv

Forms

nerv m (plural nervi)^[1] Older Romanian also had a feminine nervă, nevră and a neuter nevru with the plural nevre: „Să se odihnească până ce i s-or liniști nevrele!” “let him rest until his nerves have calmed down!”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nervus (“sinew, nerve”), a learned word, with Italian nervo and French nerf as further models.^{[3][2][4][5][1]} Ciorănescu dates the Latin loan to the 19th century.^[6] The old form nevru has another source: Tiktin takes it from Modern Greek νεύρο (névro).^[2]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ (“sinew, tendon”), and is related to Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “tendon, string, nerve”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a document of about 1735; besides “nerve” he gives the sense “sinew in meat”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The old sense was a sinew or tendon: nevre de bou, a dried ox sinew used as a whip, and in the plural the dried spinal cord of sturgeon eaten as food.^[3][2] The anatomical sense of a nerve came with the 19th-century neologisms, and with it the plural for nervous irritation: a avea nervi “to be on edge”, atac de nervi “a fit of nerves”.^[3][8][4] The figurative “vigour, force” and “the driving force” (banii sunt nervul lucrurilor “money is the sinew of things”) are recorded by Șăineanu and Scriban.^[9][8] Botany uses it, rarely, for a leaf vein.^[4][10]

Timeline

• c. 1735 – first record, in a document.^[2]
• 1875 – nervu glossed French nerf.^[11]
• 1886 – nervul frunzei “the vein of a leaf”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nerve: a cord of fibres that carries impulses between the central nervous system and the rest of the body: nervul optic “the optic nerve”.^[4][3][1]
2. (in the plural) Nervous irritation, nervousness: a avea nervi “to be irritable”, a-l apuca nervii “to lose one's temper”.^[4][3]
3. (botany, rare) A vein of a leaf.^[4]
4. (figurative, singular) vigour, energy; a lively rhythm.^[4][5]
5. (dated) A sinew or tendon.^[3][2]

Word family

• nervos
• nervozitate
• enerva
• nevricale
• nevricos

Related words

• nervură
• Latin nervus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. nerv
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, 143
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 711
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. nerv
6. ^ 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. nerv
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 Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 868
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 428
10. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 422
11. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 201