yiu

Forms

yiu^[1]

• Feminine yie, plural yii (feminine yie).^[2][3]
• Other spellings: viu and ghiu in Wiktionary;^[1] ghiu in Vrabie;^[2] Viu in Papahagi's glossary to his folk tales;^[4] víu, feminine -ă, in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;^[5] γίου, feminine γία, in Nikolaidis's Greek script.^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vīvus (“alive, living”).^[1][6][7] The Oxford Latin Dictionary derives the adjective from vīvō (“to live”);^[8] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Italic *gʷīwos and Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós (“alive”), from *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”).^[1]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian viu, Megleno-Romanian viu and Istro-Romanian viu.^[7][9] Further west, the Latin word gave Italian vivo, French vif, Catalan viu and Spanish vivo.^[10][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mihăileanu's dictionary of 1901 records víu “alive”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Besides “alive, living” the word means “raw, uncooked”, of meat, vegetables and fruit.^[11][6][12] Papahagi's folk tales use it for “in person” and “out-and-out”: Şullu viu “the devil in person”, fur viu “an arrant thief”, and s-lo-ardă di viu “to burn him alive”.^[4][1]

Timeline

• 1901 – víu “alive” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[5]
• 1905 – Viu “alive; in person” in Papahagi's glossary to his folk tales.^[4]
• 1909 – γίου “alive; raw” in Nikolaidis's dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Alive, living.^[11][1][6]
2. Raw, uncooked.^[11][6][12]
3. In person; out-and-out.^[1][4]

Related words

• yeatsã
• anyedz
• Romanian viu

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Vrabie, Emil (2000), An English-Aromanian (Macedo-Romanian) Dictionary, University, Mississippi: Romance Monographs, p. 110
3. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 383
4. ^ a b c d Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 739
5. ^ a b c Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 540
6. ^ a b c d e f Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 133
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 165
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
12. ^ a b Vrabie, Emil (2000), An English-Aromanian (Macedo-Romanian) Dictionary, University, Mississippi: Romance Monographs, p. 559