primez

Forms

primez n (plural primezuri)^[1] The plural is also primeze; the variants are the old primes and the regional primiez, primej and primejd.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *permedium, from the Latin phrase per medium (“through the middle”).^[2][3][5][6] Candrea–Densusianu compare French parmi and Italian tramezzo (“partition wall”), and the old Romanian verb împremiedza “to divide in two” of the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[5] Ciorănescu lists the word in the family of miez and says it may come directly from the Latin phrase.^[7]

Tiktin instead takes it as a formation from Romanian pre- + miez.^[4] Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1868, in Barcianu's dictionary, where it is the bar fixed between two horses in a stable.^[4] MDA2's first record is Laurian and Massim's dictionary of 1871, which has the form primes.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is a divider: a wall between two rooms, or a board, beam, bar or post that splits a space in two, as between the animals in a stable.^[2][3] From it come the regional senses of the nasal septum (in Banat and Oltenia, as primiez), the cross bars that split a window into panes, a prop that blocks a door or gate, a reinforcement of a river bank and a ridge on a hewn log.^[2][3] In the Hațeg country a strip of wood between two clearings is a primez: „dacă ie îs o poiană și una dincolo și între iele o pădure, la pădure îi zise primez” “if there is a clearing here and another beyond with a wood between them, the wood is called primez”.^[8][2]

Timeline

• 1868 – first record, in Barcianu's dictionary.^[4]
• 1871 – primes in Laurian and Massim's dictionary.^[3][2]
• 1915 – Densusianu records the sense “strip of wood between clearings” in the Hațeg country.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) A partition wall between two rooms.^[3][2][9]
2. (regional) A board, beam, bar or post that divides a space, especially one set between the animals in a stable.^[3][2][1]
3. (Banat, Oltenia, as primiez) The nasal septum.^[3][2]
4. (regional) The cross-shaped frame that divides a window into panes.^[3][2]
5. (Transylvania) A strip of forest between two clearings.^[3][8]
6. (regional) A wooden prop that blocks a door or gate; a reinforcement of a river bank.^[3][2]

Related words

• miez

Usage notes

Scriban also lists a verb primez “I prevail, surpass”, from French primer: it is the first person of prima, not this noun.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. primez
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 540
4. ^ 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. primez
5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. primez
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1050
7. ^ 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. miez
8. ^ a b c Densusianu, Ovid (1915), Graiul din Țara Hațegului, București: Socec, p. 330
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 662