vreme

Forms

vreme f (plural vremuri or vremi)^[1] Old texts spell it vreame, as in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură (1581): „A sfântului post… e de patruzeci de zile vreamea” “the time of the holy fast is forty days”.^[2] Besides the plural vremuri, the older plural vremi is still used in popular speech.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic врѣмѧ (vrěmę, “time, season”), from Proto-Slavic *vermę (“time”).^{[5][3][1][6][7]} DEX gives the Slavonic word in its stem form.^[4] It survives south of the Danube as Megleno-Romanian vreami.^[5] The Slavic cognates include Bulgarian време (vreme), Serbo-Croatian vreme and Russian время (vrémja), the Russian word being itself a Church Slavonic form.^[5][7][8]

The Proto-Slavic word is an old noun in ⟨-men-⟩ formed on the root of “to turn”, from Proto-Indo-European *wértmn̥ (“a turning”), from *wert- (“to turn”), with the cognate Sanskrit वर्त्मन् (vártman, “track, course”).^[1][8] It probably first meant “a period of time”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (early 16th century), in the old form vreamea and the sense “time”, in a verse asking not to be cast off in the time of old age.^[3][2] The Psaltirea Scheiană has the plural: „Fapt-ai luna în vremi” “you made the moon for seasons”.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

In the old language vreme was the usual word for “time”.^[10] Laurian and Massim's Latinist dictionary put timp in its place except in a few phrases.^[10] The DLR's quotations show both words side by side from then on, and vreme remains the common word in phrases such as de vreme ce “since”, în vreme ce “while” and pe vremuri “in the old days”.^[2][4] Some Slavic cognates also mean “weather”, such as Slovene vréme (“weather”), and in Romanian this sense is well recorded in dialects and in Barcianu's dictionary of 1886.^[7][11][12]

Romanian formed vremui “to be stormy weather” and devreme “early” on it, and took vremelnic “temporary” from Slavonic врѣменьнъ (vrěmenĭnŭ).^[5] The noun is also a surname, Vreme, and Vreameș is recorded as a Moldavian name in 1673.^[13][1]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – vreamea in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[3][2]
• c. 1573–1578 – vremi “seasons” in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[10][2][9]
• 1581 – vreamea in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.^[2]
• 1673 – the personal name Vreameș in Moldavia.^[13]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible uses the plural vremi (Genesis 1:14).^[14]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German Wetter “weather” and Zeit “time”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. time, as a dimension of the universe and the passing of events.^[4][1]
2. A length of time, a period: Au așteptat multă vreme., cu vremea “in time, eventually”, din vreme în vreme “from time to time”, toată vremea “all the time”, în vreme ce “while”, a-și pierde vremea “to waste one's time”.^[4] Also spare time: N-am vreme acum.^[4][10]
3. The right time for something, an occasion, a moment: Era vremea cinei., la vreme “at the right moment”, într-o vreme “at one point”.^[4]
4. (plural vremuri) An age, an epoch: pe vremuri “in the old days”, în negura vremii “in the distant past”.^[4]
5. (plural vremuri) Circumstances, times: vremuri grele “hard times”.^[4]
6. weather: the state of the atmosphere at a given time and place: vreme frumoasă “fine weather”.^[4][1]

Word family

• vremelnic
• vremelnicește
• vremui
• devreme

Related words

• timp
• Old Church Slavonic врѣмѧ (vrěmę)

Usage notes

De vreme ce means “since, as” (older also de vreme că), and devreme “early”.^[15][1] Old texts and popular speech have the plural vremi, the standard language vremuri.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. vreme
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1518
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1208
5. ^ a b c d 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. vreme
6. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
7. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ 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 103:20
10. ^ 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. vreme
11. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 697
12. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. s.v. vreme
13. ^ a b Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. vreme
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gen 1:14
15. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1422