verde

Forms

verde m or f or n (plural verzi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin virdis (“green”), the syncopated popular form of viridis, listed in the Appendix Probi (no. 201).^{[2][3][4][1][5]}

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian vearde, Megleno-Romanian verdi and Istro-Romanian verde.^[2][6][7][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian verde, Sardinian birde, French vert, Occitan vert, Catalan vert, Spanish verde and Portuguese verde.^[2][3][5] Ciorănescu and Pușcariu also compare Albanian verdhë (“yellow”).^[2][3] Ciorănescu also refers to varză “cabbage”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1513, from the Slavonic documents of the principalities.^[9] MDA2's first record is a document of about 1594 in Hurmuzaki's collection, which lists matasi verde “green silk” among goods.^[4][10] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has piatra cea verde “the green stone”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From the colour of leaves the word passed to plants full of sap and to unripe fruit, as in lemnul cel verde “the green wood” of the 1894 Gospel.^[9][11] It also means untanned hides.^[11] Applied to people it means “vigorous, brave” (român verde “a stout Romanian”) rather than “young”, and as an adverb “frankly”: a spune verde “to say straight out”.^[3][11] In cards de verde is the suit of spades.^[11][12] Idioms include verzi și uscate “idle talk” and a umbla după icre verzi “to chase pipe dreams”.^[11][9] Slang uses the noun for marijuana.^[1]

The derivatives include verdeață “greenery” and verzui “greenish”.^[2][1] The verzișori were a Wallachian cavalry corps formed in the mid-17th century.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1513 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[9]
• c. 1594 – matasi verde “green silk” in a document, MDA2's first record.^[4][10]
• mid-17th century – the verzișori, a cavalry corps in Wallachia.^[2]
• 1688 – piatra cea verde “the green stone” in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. green: of the colour of leaves and grass;^[11][1] zonă verde “green space”;^[11][1] (figurative) of a person, pale.^[11][1]
2. Of plants: full of sap, not dried up, living.^[11]
3. Of fruit and vegetables: unripe.^[11]
4. Of hides: raw, untanned.^[11]
5. (figurative) Of people: vigorous, bold;^[11] (often as an adverb) frank, open.^[11]

Noun

1. (neuter) The colour green, between yellow and blue in the spectrum.^[11][1]
2. (slang) marijuana.^[1]

Word family

• verdeață
• verdeț
• verdare
• verdoi
• verziș
• verzișor
• verzui
• înverzi

Related words

• varză
• Aromanian vearde
• Latin viridis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. verde
3. ^ a b c d Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 176
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1457
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9368
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1106
7. ^ 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, 182
8. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 164
9. ^ 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. verde
10. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. verde
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1192
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1400