>Interesting, the "teme" & Co are used by people with a
>certain level of education. The "frica~" & Co are though
>the words used usualy be John Normalbuyer.
This is wrong; i.e. this statement does not reflect
the reality. I'd rather expect a greater frequency
among the (so-to-speak) "lowest" social strata for
"nu te teme!" and
"(io) nu ma tem"
than for
"nu-tzi fie frica!"
and "nu mi-e frica".
(But (I suppose) a better answer'll be given
by Atlasul Lingvistic al Limbii Române, which
I do not possess.)
OTOH, <a (se) teme> + <teama> & al.
and <a (îi) fi frica> + noun <frica> & al. are not
always interchangeable. That is, the usage also
depends on... style & contexts.
Thus, <temator> [te-m&-'tor] is weaker than <fricos>:
a courageous/brave one can in certain situations be
"temator" (fearful in the sense of being... concerned
that somthing might go awry). But, if that person
is "fricos", than s/he cannot be courageous/brave at
the same time.
Also note that <teme + temere> is a verb without
auxiliary pre- or suffixes or adverbial locutions
(similar to the Latin one), and stands as such in
in contrast with verbal constructions for <frica>:
"mi-e frica = imi este frica" (verbatim: "to me is
fear/fright"), "a in+frico+$a"; adjectives (in
the shape of past participles): "in+frico+$a+t",
"ne/in+fric'+at."
George