nervos

Forms

nervos m or n (feminine singular nervoasă, masculine plural nervoși, feminine/neuter plural nervoase)^[1] The old form nevros is recorded by Polizu, Pontbriant and Costinescu.^[2] Costinescu in 1870 lists nervosŭ with a cross-reference to nevrosŭ.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nervōsus (“sinewy, vigorous”), Italian nervoso or French nerveux, the three sources of DEX, the DLR and MDA2.^[4][2][5] Tiktin gives the Latin and Italian words,^[6] Marcu the Latin and French,^[7] and Wiktionary notes that the word can also be analysed as nerv with -os.^[1] The Latin adjective is formed on nervus (“sinew, energy”) with -ōsus.^[8] The Italian word comes from Latin,^[1] and the French word continues Old French nerveus, a Latin loan.^[1] The old form nevros was made on nevru or nevră, according to the DLR.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1722, in Dimitrie Cantemir's Hronicul vechimei a romano-moldo-vlahilor, with the sense “strong, vigorous”.^[6] Cantemir writes that small states have arrangements „cu multul mai isteațe și mai nervoasă decât la mari crăii” “much sharper and more vigorous than in great kingdoms”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “muscular, sinewy”, hence “vigorous, energetic”, used of arms, of horses' legs and, after Heliade-Rădulescu and Ghica, of a terse style.^[2][6] In the 19th century the medical sense “of the nerves” spread with phrases such as sistem nervos “nervous system” and boală nervoasă “nervous illness”, and Negulici in 1848 glosses the word both as “having good nerves” and “whose nerves are affected”.^[2][9] From the end of the century it also describes a person who loses his temper easily, as in a quotation of 1897: „Bătrânul a devenit nervos de dureri și necazuri” “the old man became irritable from pains and troubles”.^[2] This is now the common sense, and the adjective is also used as an adverb, “nervously”.^[4][7]

Timeline

• 1722 – “vigorous” in Cantemir's Hronic, the first record.^[6][2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[9]
• 1870 – nervosŭ and nevrosŭ in Costinescu.^[3]
• 1897 – “irritable”, in a periodical quoted by the DLR.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the nerves, made up of or caused by nerves, and by extension neurotic: sistem nervos “nervous system”.^[4][5]
2. nervous, irritable: easily angered or upset, or tense and on edge, as in E nervos azi, nu-l supăra. “He's on edge today, don't annoy him.”^[4][1]
3. (adverbially) Nervously, with irritation.^[4][7]
4. Muscular, sinewy, and figuratively vigorous, energetic.^[4][2]

Related words

• nerv
• nervozitate

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 Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nervos
3. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 170
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. 711
5. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 143
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nervos
7. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. nervos
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. nervos