Etymology and origin of the Romanian word îngrijire
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1705 Corbea's psalter More words from the 18th century
- Ultimate origin
- Bulgarian грижа
From the same root
Forms
îngrijire f (plural îngrijiri)[1]
Etymology
It is formed from Romanian îngriji + -re, the long infinitive of the verb “to look after”.[2][3][1] The verb was made on grijă (“care, worry”) with the prefix în-. [4][5] MDA2 derives the noun from Bulgarian грижа (griža).[6]
Earliest recorded meaning
Tiktin's first record is Corbea's psalter of 1705.[7] MDA2 cites a passage of Beldiman as its first record.[3] The verb îngriji is older: Tiktin dates it to about 1600.[8]
Semantic evolution
The noun has the senses of the verb: care given to a person or thing, attention, and in older use worry or fear.[2][9] Cu îngrijire “carefully” is in Tiktin and Costinescu.[7][10] Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 already has the care of a sick person.[11] MDA2 lists medical care and treatment as separate senses, and the phrase a da primele îngrijiri “to give first aid”.[3] The sense “worry” is marked as old and rare.[2][9]
Timeline
- 1705 – îngrijire in Corbea's psalter, the first record.[7]
- 1862 – Pontbriant gives the care of a sick person.[11]
- 1870 – Costinescu records cu îngrijire “carefully”.[10]
Meanings
Noun
- care given to a being or a thing; solicitude.[2] Personal de îngrijire: the cleaning staff of an institution.[2][3]
- Medical care; treatment.[3] A da primele îngrijiri: to give first aid.[3][2]
- Attention, carefulness: a lucra cu îngrijire “to work carefully”.[2][7]
- (dated) Worry, fear.[2][9]
Word family
- neîngrijire
Related words
- grijă
- îngrijitor
- îngrijorare
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 549
- ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1236
- ^ Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. îngriji
- ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1235
- ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1023
- ^ 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. îngrijire
- ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. îngriji
- ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 641
- ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 593
- ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 353
Cite this entry
“Îngrijire.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/%C3%AEngrijire. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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