screme

Forms

screme (third-person singular present screme, past participle scremut, third-person subjunctive screamă), 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin exprimō (“to press out”), in a spoken form *expremō, as Ciorănescu, Tiktin, MDA2, the DLR and the REW agree.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin verb is formed ex- and premō (“to press”).^[7] It is a doublet of exprima, borrowed through French.^[1]

For the initial /sk/ in place of /sp/, Tiktin gives two explanations: the influence of excrēmentum (“excrement”), or a dissimilation of /p/ before /m/.^[3] Ciorănescu finds the contamination unlikely and prefers the dissimilation, while DLRM and DEX name the Latin noun.^[2][8][9] The REW speaks of an onomatopoeic reshaping of the beginning.^[6] Ciorănescu rejects Giuglea's Old High German krimman.^[2]

The word survives in Aromanian as the reflexive sprem, which the REW glosses “to be in labour”.^[2][6][1] The Romance cognates include Italian spremere (“to squeeze”), French épreindre, Catalan espremer and Portuguese espremer.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and the DLR give the Anonymus Caransebesiensis as the first record, which Tiktin dates about 1670 and MDA2 to 1650–1700.^[3][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense is straining to empty the bowels, and by extension a woman straining in labour.^[4][5] A rare transitive use means to expel: in a tale collected by Sbiera a dragon threatens to swallow a hero alive and pass him out a week later.^[3][10] From the effort came the colloquial figurative sense of trying hard with little result, and a se screme să “to be on the point of”.^[9][4] Transylvanian and Banat uses are to moan and to bawl.^[4]

The fable of the mountain in labour was tnew with this verb: Tiktin quotes s-a scremut muntele și a născut un șoarece “the mountain strained and gave birth to a mouse”, and Damé has the same saying.^[3][11] Romanian formed scremet “effort, strain”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – the first record, in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[3][5]
• 1862 – Pontbriant glosses it with French pousser avec effort and être en travail.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive) To strain, tensing the belly muscles to empty the bowels; of a woman, to push in labour.^[9][4]
2. (reflexive, figurative, colloquial) To struggle hard, mostly in vain or for little: s-a scremut o lună și n-a scris nimic “he strained for a month and wrote nothing”.^[9][4]
3. (reflexive, in a se screme să) To be about to: cerul se screme să ningă “the sky looks about to snow”.^[9]

Word family

• scremet

Usage notes

In Transylvania screme can mean “to moan”, and in Banat “to bawl”.^[4] A regional variant is streme.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. screme
3. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. screme
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 824
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. screme
6. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3057
7. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 75
8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 751
9. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 993
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 65
11. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. screme
12. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 661