rece

Forms

rece m or f or n (plural reci)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin recēns (“fresh, recent”), probably through a reduced form Vulgar Latin *reces.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1][7]} The Latin word is formed from re- and Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“new, fresh”).^[1]

The meaning moved from “fresh” to “cool” and then to “cold”, as did German frisch and French frais;^[5] Old Venetian resente also meant “cool”.^[5] Densusianu found the sense “cool” in Late Latin recentātum (“refreshing drink”), a form that Ungureanu regards as doubtful.^[5][8] Pușcariu rejected Schuchardt's view that the word blends the Latin adjective with a Latin word for “stiff”.^[5]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian arațe, Megleno-Romanian rați and Istro-Romanian rǫce.^[2][9] The Romance cognates keep the old sense: Italian recente, Portuguese recente, Old French roisent and Spanish recién.^[2] Romanian later borrowed the same Latin word as recent.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1493, in a Slavonic charter.^[3] In Romanian texts the word appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[4] The sense was already “cold”, as in apă rece “cold water” in Coresi's Evanghelie.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “cold” is the only one in Romanian, though the Latin word meant “fresh”.^[2][5] From the temperature the word passed to people and their manner: o primire rece is a cool welcome, and a cold person is unfriendly or indifferent.^[3][11] Pâine rece is stale bread.^[3]

Set phrases include climă rece “polar climate”, abces rece “an abscess without inflammation”, and la rece “at a low temperature; dispassionately”.^[11][4] An old Moldavian variant is răce.^[2][4]

The derivatives include răci “to cool; to catch cold”, răceală “coolness; a cold” and răcitor “refrigerator”.^[2] Pușcariu took răcoare “coolness” as a formation on rece after dulce and dulcoare.^[5]

Timeline

• 1493 – a Slavonic charter, the first record.^[3]
• early 16th century – the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4]
• 1589 – rece and reci in Coresi's psalter.^[12]
• 1733 – ploaie reace “cold rain” in a calendar.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. cold: having a low temperature, without warmth; giving a feeling of cold: apă rece “cold water”, climă rece “polar climate”.^[11][4][1]
2. (substantivized) Cold, low temperature;^[11] la rece “at a low temperature; without heating; dispassionately”.^[11]
3. (figurative) unfriendly, indifferent, distant: o primire rece “a cool welcome”.^[11][3]

Word family

• răci
• răceală
• răcitor
• răcitură

Related words

• recent
• răcoare
• Aromanian arațe
• Latin recēns

Usage notes

In Transylvania and Bucovina the plural reci is a noun meaning “jellied meat”.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. rece
3. ^ 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. rece
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 666
5. ^ a b c d e f g Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 129
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7109
7. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rece
8. ^ Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier, p. 352
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 247
10. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 150
11. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 927
12. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 104:32