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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word țipa

Dictionaries list two verbs țipa: one meaning “to scream” and a regional one meaning “to throw”;[1] DEX, Tiktin and MDA2 give them separate entries, while Ciorănescu holds that they are one word.[1][2][3][4]

țipa1 scream, shout

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
1642 Cazania de la Govora
Ultimate origin
Romanian țip

Pronunciation

Forms

țipa (third-person singular present țipă, past participle țipat, third-person subjunctive țipe) 1st conjugation[5]

Etymology

The word for “to scream” is of unknown origin for DEX, Tiktin, the DLR and Wiktionary, and MDA2 gives no etymon.[1][2][3][5] Ciorănescu treats it as an expressive formation from Romanian țip (“spring, source”), a Transylvanian word he compares with șipot;[4] Drăganu first linked the verb to this expressive source.[4] Șăineanu had already taken it as probably onomatopoeic, with a first sense “to spurt”, from which both “to cry out loud” and “to throw fast” would come.[6] Ciorănescu lists Megleno-Romanian țop and Megleno-Romanian țăpări beside it.[4]

Older proposals, which Ciorănescu finds insufficient, took it through a Slavonic verb for “to scream” (Cihac), derived the noun țipăt from a Slavonic noun (Miklosich), or reconstructed Vulgar Latin *tinnipō (Pascu).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Cazania de la Govora of 1642.[2] Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 has the form țip as a gloss of Slavonic въпию (vŭpiju) “I cry out”, and a manuscript of 1675 tells how the wild beasts “vor urla și vor țipa cu glas mare” “will howl and scream with a loud voice”.[7][2] MDA2 dates its first record to before 1675.[3]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is a person's loud, shrill cry of pain, fear, anger or joy; from it come “to say something loudly”, “to shout at someone” and the loud crying of small children.[3][1] The verb also covers the calls of animals, above all birds, and the shrill noise of the wind or of a fast object such as an arrow.[3][8] A figurative sense applies it to colours that clash and strike the eye.[1]

Set phrases include a țipa cât îl ține gura “to scream at the top of one's voice” and the folk a țipa fiul în sânul maicii, said of great grief.[8][3]

Timeline

  • 1642 – the Cazania de la Govora, Tiktin's first record.[2]
  • 1649 – țip “I cry out” in Mardarie's lexicon.[7]
  • 1675 – a manuscript in Gaster's chrestomathy: wild beasts “will howl and scream”.[2][3]
  • 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible (Job 35:9).[9]
  • c. 1800–1812 – Budai-Deleanu: „Țipă, răcnește, spumegă, zbiară” “it screams, roars, foams, bellows”.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive, of people) To scream, to cry out in a loud, shrill voice from pain, fear or anger.[1][5]
  2. To speak in a raised voice, to shout at someone in annoyance or anger: Nu mai țipa la copii![1][10]
  3. To make shrill, deafening sounds on a musical instrument.[1]
  4. (of animals, especially birds) To give their loud, sharp call.[1][3]
  5. (figurative, of colours) To clash, to make an unpleasant, glaring impression.[1]

Word family

  • țipăt
  • țipător
  • țipenie
  • țipoti

țipa2 throw, chase away (regional)

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
c. 1680 a 17th-century miscellany (Misc. sec. XVII)

Pronunciation

Forms

țipa (third-person singular present țipă, past participle țipat) 1st conjugation; in Transylvania also pronounced țâpa.[8]

Etymology

The regional verb for “to throw” is of unknown origin for DEX, the DLR, the DLRLV, Tiktin and Wiktionary;[1][11][12] MDA2 gives no etymon either.[1][11][12][13][3][5] Ciorănescu counts it as the same word as țipa1, with the senses spread by expressive use, as in dudui, tuna and tuli; he notes that the sense is now Transylvanian but was used by Heliade too („țipă-l peste gard” “throw him over the fence”).[4] Șăineanu also derived both senses from a first sense “to spurt”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the verb to about 1680, after the DLRLV, which quotes a 17th-century miscellany: „Și-lu țipă afară din sine” “and he threw it out of himself”.[13][12] MDA2's first record is a document of 1798 in Iorga's Studii și documente.[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb is regional, above all Transylvanian, and also used in Bukovina and the Banat.[11][13] Its core sense is to throw away something useless or to fling something after someone; from it come to throw off a garment, to let out sparks or flames, to drive someone away, and the reflexive “to throw oneself, leap”.[3][8][13] MDA2 records further regional senses: to put forth buds, to miscarry, to shed the skin, to dismiss from office.[3] In Transylvanian speech it is also pronounced țâpa, and MDA2 lists a Transylvanian variant țupa.[8][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1680 – a 17th-century miscellany, the first record.[13][12]
  • 1798 – a document in Iorga's collection, MDA2's first record.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive, regional) To throw, to fling away.[1][5]
  2. (transitive, regional) To throw off a garment or another piece of clothing.[1][8]
  3. (transitive, regional) To let out, to put out: țipa scântei “to send out sparks”.[1][3]
  4. (transitive, regional) To chase away, to drive off.[1][5]

Usage notes

DEX numbers the scream verb țipa¹ and the regional throw verb țipa².[1] Both have the present țip.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 1163
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. țipa 1
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1343
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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. țip
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 654
  7. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. țip
  8. ^ a b c d e f Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 550
  9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Iov 35:9
  10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. țipa
  11. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. țipa 2
  12. ^ a b c d Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 305
  13. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. țipa 2
Cite this entry

“Țipa.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/%C8%9Bipa. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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