teme

Forms

teme (present tem, third-person singular teme, past participle temut), 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin timeō (“to fear”), and DER adds that it passed through a popular form with a long /iː/, *tīmeō.^[2][3][4][1] The verb has Istro-Romanian temu beside it, and Romance cognates in Italian temere, Spanish temer, Portuguese temer and Catalan tembre.^[2] DER cites Pușcariu's EWRS and the REW for the etymology.^[2]

The verb is now mostly reflexive.^[5] Pușcariu explained the reflexive by the model of Old Church Slavonic боꙗти сѧ (bojati sę), but DER points to the Spanish construction me temo que “I am afraid that”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the Hurmuzaki psalter of the early 16th century, MDA2's first record, with tem “I fear” and temu among its forms.^[3][6] Tiktin's first record is the Codicele Voronețean, at 1 Peter 2:17.^[7] Coresi's homiliary of 1581 has the reflexive: „Văzu vânt mare, temu-se și începu a se afunda” “he saw the strong wind, was afraid and began to sink”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the reflexive “to be afraid”, the old and popular language used the verb transitively: a-și teme ceva “to fear for something, to fear someone may take it away”, and a-și teme nevasta “to be jealous about one's wife”.^[7][3] DER notes that the transitive use is rare today.^[2] Mă tem că… “I'm afraid that…” softens a statement into “I think that…”.^[5][3]

The noun teamă “fear” is a postverbal formation from the verb in DER's view;^[2] Pușcariu and Tiktin took it from Latin tima, and a derivation from Greek was proposed by Roesler, which DER calls improbable.^[2]

Timeline

• early 16th century – tem, temu in the Hurmuzaki psalter.^[6][3]
• 16th century – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[7]
• 1581 – the reflexive temu-se in Coresi's homiliary.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive) to be afraid, to fear; with de: Copilul se teme de câini.^[5][3][1]
2. (reflexive) to be worried, to worry;^[5][3] mă tem că… “I'm afraid that…, I think that…”.^[5][3]
3. (transitive, popular) to suspect someone of unfaithfulness; to be jealous of.^[5][3]

Word family

• temător
• netemător
• teamă
• temut

Usage notes

The proverb cine e mușcat de șarpe se teme și de șopârlă “who has been bitten by a snake is afraid of a lizard too” describes someone made cautious by experience.^[5] A separate regional noun teme “crown of the head” (Banat, Oltenia) is borrowed from Serbo-Croatian teme.^[3][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. teme
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1196
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. teme
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1116
6. ^ a b 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 21:24
7. ^ 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. teme