văr

Forms

văr m (plural veri, feminine equivalent vară)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin (cōnsōbrīnus) vērus (“true (cousin)”): the phrase meaning “first cousin” was shortened to its adjective.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][1]} The full phrase survives as Aromanian cusurin ver, and Megleno-Romanian ver is shortened from it.^[8][9][10] Istro-Romanian veru still means “true”, the Latin sense.^[2][6] The other Romance languages kept the adjective as Italian vero, Old French voir, Occitan ver and Catalan ver, while Spanish primo and Portuguese primo show the same shortening of cōnsōbrīnus prīmus.^[2][6] Its feminine is vară².^[2][3]

The Latin adjective comes from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁ros (“true”); its relatives include German wahr and Proto-Slavic *věra (“faith”).^[1][11] In Romanian it also lies behind adevăr “truth”.^[7][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a place name of 1505 in a charter.^[5][4][10] Among the early texts, Coresi's Gospel with commentary says that neither brother nor sister nor cousin, „nici vărul”, can help there, and a document of 1649 has „Vlasie, văru-mieu” “Vlasie, my cousin”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

A first cousin is văr primar, văr bun or văr dulce;^[13] văr de-al doilea is a second cousin.^[10][13] The vocative vere became a familiar way of addressing a friend, sometimes with irony.^{[3][4][10][14]} In Transylvania and Muntenia the word could also mean a sworn friend, a blood brother.^[4][10]

Derivatives include the diminutive verișor, verie “cousinhood” and the jocular verb vărui “to call someone cousin”, used by Alecsandri.^[2][10] Ciorănescu thinks the old conjunction vare continues Latin vērē (“truly”).^[2]

Timeline

• 1505 – a place name in a charter, the first record.^[5][4][10]
• 1649 – văru-mieu “my cousin” in a document.^[5]
• 1652 – veri de-a noștri “our cousins” in a document.^[5]
• 1829 – vară-mii Ilincăi “to my cousin Ilinca” in a document.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cousin: the son of one's uncle or aunt; the degree of kinship between the children of brothers and sisters.^[3][4][1]
2. (familiar, in the vocative vere) A form of address to a friend or acquaintance.^[3][4]
3. (regional) A sworn friend, a blood brother.^[4]

Word family

• verișor
• verișoară

Related words

• vară²
• adevăr
• Aromanian ver
• Latin vērus

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. văr
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1186
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1425
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. văr
6. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 174
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9262
8. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 183
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 325
10. ^ 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. văr
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 108
13. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 627
14. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1395