Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word același

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 1500–1520 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origins
Latin *eccum illeRomanian -aProto-Italic *sei,*ke
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Romanian acel
Romanian acela
Romanian același
From the same root
Romanian cel ← acel

Pronunciation

  • /aˈt͡ʃe.laʃʲ/[1]

Forms

același (feminine aceeași, masculine plural aceiași, feminine plural aceleași)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian acela + și, the particle making the demonstrative more emphatic.[2][3][4][1] Tiktin and Wiktionary trace the particle to Latin sīc (“thus, so”).[5][1]

acel goes back to Latin eccum (“behold”) and ille (“that”), and acela adds a deictic -a to it.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.[2] The Codicele Voronețean uses it to render Latin ex ipso ore “out of the same mouth”.[4][3] DELR records an old variant célași.[2]

Semantic evolution

The DA describes two uses: repeating a reference to the same thing, and naming something shared by several things.[4] It can be strengthened by tot, and also means “unchanged, as before”.[4][6] In familiar speech tot acela or tot unul often replace it.[5]

It is declined like acela, with the genitive-dative forms aceluiași, aceleiași and acelorași.[5][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1500–1520 – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.[2]
  • c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.[3][4]
  • 1825 – Aquelasi, with the meaning “idem”, in the Lexicon of Buda.[8]

Meanings

Determiner

  1. The same: identical with one named before, or shared by several: Locuim în aceeași casă.[7][3]
  2. unchanged, as before: A rămas același om.[7][6]

Pronoun

  1. The same one: Nu mai e același.[7][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. acel
  3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 7
  4. ^ a b c d e 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. același
  5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. același
  6. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 11
  7. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 6
  8. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 28
Cite this entry

“Același.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/acela%C8%99i. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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