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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word șa

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1581 Palia de la Orăștie More words from the 16th century
Inherited from
Latin sella
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *sed-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin sella
French selle
Romanian șa
Romanian șale
Derivations
From the same root
Latin subsellium ← sella

Pronunciation

Forms

șa f (plural șei)[1] Neculce has the Moldavian plural șele: „cai cu șele cu rafturi” “horses with saddles and ornamented harness”.[2] Older and regional forms are șea, șeauă, șauă and șală.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sella (“seat; saddle”), through an older form șea.[4][3][2][5][1] The Latin word comes from *sedlā, from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).[1] The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian șauă and Megleno-Romanian șauă.[4][6][7] The Romance cognates include Italian sella, Occitan sella, Catalan sella, French selle and Spanish silla.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581, in the sense “saddle”.[3] Tiktin's earliest record is a document of 1594.[2] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has the articled form șaua.[8]

Semantic evolution

From the saddle of a horse the word passed to other things shaped like it: the seat of a bicycle or motorcycle, a bone in a hen's back, and a col between two heights (șaua dealului).[9][3][4] Tiktin quotes it for the saddle of the Caraiman mountain.[2] Anatomy uses șaua turcească for the hollow of the sphenoid bone that holds the pituitary gland.[9] In the plural șale it means the part of a horse's back under the saddle, and in people the small of the back.[3][4]

Figurative phrases take the rider's point of view: a pune șaua pe cineva “to put the saddle on someone” is to master or exploit them, and a vorbi din șa is to speak from on high.[9][2] Ciorănescu derives înșela “to deceive” from înșeua “to saddle”, comparing other Romanian verbs of deceiving that started as putting an unsuited thing on someone;[4] Miklosich, Cihac, Pușcariu and others separate it from the saddle and derive it from a Slavonic word for “gain”.[4]

Timeline

  • 1581 – șa “saddle” in the Palia de la Orăștie.[3]
  • 1594 – recorded in a document.[2]
  • 1688 – șaua in the Bucharest Bible.[8]
  • 1689 – a document lists a horse with a saddle embroidered in wire.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Saddle: a leather or wooden seat fixed on a horse's back for the rider.[9][3][1]
  2. The seat of a bicycle, motorcycle and the like.[9][3]
  3. A bone in a hen's back;[9][4] șaua turcească: the sella turcica of the sphenoid bone.[9][4]
  4. A col or saddle: a dip between two higher parts of a ridge; also curmătură.[9][3]
  5. (plural, șale) The loins, the small of the back; in a horse, the part of the back under the saddle.[3][4]

Word family

  • șelar
  • șelărie
  • șeuaș
  • înșeua
  • înșela
  • înșelătură
  • înșelăciune
  • înșelăcios

Usage notes

Old texts and regional speech also have șa for așa “so, thus”: Coresi's psalter of 1570 has it.[11][2][1] An interjection șa is used to drive goats away.[3] The regional singular șală was rebuilt from the plural șale.[10] That plural is the only one used for the small of the back, while the other senses also take șei.[4] A bate șaua ca să priceapă iapa “to beat the saddle so that the mare understands” is to make a hint.[3][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. șa
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1081
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. șa
  5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7795
  6. ^ 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, 167
  7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 283
  8. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Leviticus 15:9
  9. ^ 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. 1083
  10. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. șa
  11. ^ 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 106:18

Related etymologies

  • bun · also from Latin
  • unde · also from Latin
  • veni · also from Latin
  • noi · also from Latin
  • bine · also from Latin
  • un · also from Latin
  • și · also from Latin
  • sta · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Șa.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/%C8%99a. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·