fricã

Forms

fricã f (plural frits, definite articulation frica)^[1]

• Plural frits, definite singular frica.^[1][2]
• Other spellings: FRÍCĂ, plural frițĭ, in Papahagi's dictionary;^[3] frică in the Romanian-based spelling of Dalametra and Mihăileanu;^[4][5] φρίκα, plural φρίτσι, in the Greek script of Nikolaidis;^[6] Φρίκᾳ in Kavalliotis's word list, which its editor reads as frik&.^[7]

Etymology

Papahagi and Ciorănescu take it as borrowed from Modern Greek φρίκη (fríki, “horror, shudder”);^[3][8] Capidan derives the Megleno-Romanian word from the same Greek source.^[9] Pascu instead files it among the Latin words, from a *frica that renders the Greek word.^[10] Ciorănescu points out that the presence of the word in Istro-Romanian shows a very old borrowing.^[8]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian frică, Megleno-Romanian frícă and Istro-Romanian fríkę;^[11][12][8] Compare also Albanian frikë.^[13][10]

The Greek word is already Ancient Greek, recorded since the 5th century BC.^[14] Ancient Greek had φρίκη (phríkē, “shivering, shudder of fear”), an extension of φρίξ (phríx, “shiver, ruffling of the sea”);^[15][16] Beekes finds no certain cognates outside Greek and thinks it may be Pre-Greek.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Kavalliotis's word list of 1770 Φρίκᾳ translates Modern Greek φόβος (fóvos, “fear”).^[7] Daniil's Tetraglosson has the word in a sentence about the fear of God.^[17]

Semantic evolution

The Greek word meant a shudder of horror; in Aromanian it became the ordinary word for fear.^[15][2] Cunia records the saying frica da cicioari "fear gives you legs", said of someone who runs away in fright.^[2] Mihăileanu gives iram singură și mi ira frică "I was alone and afraid".^[5]

Timeline

• 1770 – Φρίκᾳ “fear” in Kavalliotis's word list.^[7]
• 1901 – frică “fear” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[5]
• 1909 – Nikolaidis derives it from Greek φρίκη.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. fear, dread; the state of a person facing danger.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• Romanian frică
• Albanian frikë

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 465
3. ^ a b c Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 561
4. ^ Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 93
5. ^ a b c Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 198
6. ^ a b Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 579
7. ^ a b c Meyer, Gustav (1895), Albanesische Studien IV: Das griechisch-südrumänisch-albanesische Wörterverzeichnis des Kavalliotis, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, phil.-hist. Classe 132, p. 119
8. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 129
10. ^ a b 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, 193
11. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 175
12. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
13. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 110
14. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
15. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
17. ^ Leake, William Martin (1814), Researches in Greece, London (prints Daniil of Moscopole's Tetraglosson), p. 389