speria

Forms

speria (third-person singular present sperie, past participle speriat, third-person subjunctive sperie), 1st conjugation^[1] The old and Moldavian forms with -ă- and a present spai are seen in a manuscript of 1661: „nemic să nu să spaie” “let him not be frightened at all”.^[2]

Etymology

In the view of DEX, MDA2 and the DLR it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *expavoreō (“to frighten”), a verb formed on Latin pavor (“fear”).^[3][4][5][1] Tiktin and an earlier article of the REW proposed expaveō (“to be terrified at”).^[6][1] Ciorănescu finds the sound development from that verb hard to explain, and Cihac's *expavĭlāre and Candrea's expavorare even less convincing.^[6] He suggests instead a blend of several Latin verbs, such as expārēre, from pāreō (“to appear”), or experior (“to try”).^[6] The REW itself calls Weigand's Latin reconstruction difficult and Pascu's doubtful.^[7]

The verb survives south of the Danube: Aromanian aspar and Megleno-Romanian spar.^[6][8][9] Wiktionary compares Italian spaurire, Portuguese espavorir and Occitan espavordir, all formed on the Latin word for fear.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1551–1553, in a Gospel text, at Matthew 8:26.^[2] MDA2's first record is Coresi's book of homilies of 1581: „Moartea lui Ioan nemică nu spărea spre ei” “John's death did not frighten them at all”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The old language and the regional speech of Moldavia and Banat had spărea and spăria, with a present spar or spai.^[2][6] Besides frightening people, the verb has long meant startling animals, making a horse shy, and rousing game from its lair.^[2][3] Figurative uses followed: gândurile îi speriaseră somnul “his thoughts had driven away his sleep”.^[2]

In superstition, a speria boalele meant driving away illnesses, and regionally a-și speria foamea meant eating a little to stave off hunger.^[4] Colloquial Romanian uses it for “to amaze”, with de speriat “astonishing”, and teenage slang for “to steal”.^[3][10]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – first record, in a Gospel text.^[2]
• 1581 – spărea “frightened” in Coresi's book of homilies.^[4][5]
• 1661 – the subjunctive să spaie in a manuscript.^[2]
• 1688 – spăria in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive) To frighten, to scare; to take fright: Se sperie și de umbra lui. “He is afraid of his own shadow.”^[3][4][2]
2. (transitive) To startle an animal or a group of them so that they flee; to rouse game from its lair.^[3][4]
3. In a-și speria somnul: to be unable to fall asleep again;^[3] a-i speria cuiva somnul: to keep someone awake.^[3]
4. (colloquial) To amaze;^[3] de speriat “astonishing, extraordinary”.^[3]
5. (slang) To steal.^[10]

Word family

• sperietoare
• sperietură
• sperios
• speriuș
• speriere

Related words

• spăimânta
• spaimă
• Aromanian aspar
• Latin pavor

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 Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. speria
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1039
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, 951
5. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. speria
6. ^ a b c d e 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. speria
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6314
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 166
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 270
10. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. speria
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Iov 13:25