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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word acru

acru1 acre

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1829
Borrowed from
French acre

Pronunciation

Forms

acru m (plural acri)[2]

Etymology

The word for the unit of area is borrowed from French acre, a modern loan.[2][3][4] Marcu's dictionary of neologisms names English acre beside the French word, and MDA2 adds Latin as a further model, a case of the multiple etymology of Romanian lexicography.[5][6] The French word is a Germanic loan: DELR compares Old English æcer and Middle High German acker, which also mean “field” and in some languages a unit of measure.[3] Marcu and Maneca also compare Italian acro and trace the word to German Acker (“field”).[7] It is a different word from acru2 “sour”, which Romanian inherited from Latin.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1829.[3] In 1848 Negulici's dictionary of new words explains acru as the English pogon, a measure of 1,061 square fathoms (stânjeni).[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept one sense, the English and American unit of land area.[9][2] Dictionaries give its size as about 4,047 square metres, used in England, India and North America.[7][9] MDA2's first record is from the weekly Contemporanul of 1948, later than DELR's date.[6]

Timeline

  • 1829 – first record of acru “acre”.[3]
  • 1848 – Negulici's glossary of new words lists it as the English land measure.[8]
  • 1948 – acru in the weekly Contemporanul, MDA2's first record.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An acre: a unit for measuring land, of varying size, about 4,000 square metres.[2][5]

acru2 sour

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1551–1553 the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book
Inherited from
Latin acrus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱrós

Pronunciation

Forms

acru m or n (feminine singular acră, masculine plural acri, feminine/neuter plural acre)[1]

Etymology

The word for “sour” is inherited from Late Latin ācrus (“sour, sharp”), the popular form of Classical Latin ācer moved into the second declension.[10][3][6][11][12] Wiktionary takes the Latin word back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱrós (“sharp”), and de Vaan reconstructs the same root.[1][13] DELR notes that the Latin adjective belongs with acus (“needle”), aciēs (“edge”) and acētum (“vinegar”).[3] The word is found across Romance;[14] DELR calls it pan-Romance.[3][14]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian acru and Megleno-Romanian acru.[10][15] Its Romance cognates include Italian agro, Sardinian agru, French aigre, Catalan agre, Spanish agrio and Portuguese agro.[10][14] Hasdeu observed that the Latin /k/ became /g/ in Romanian only in the derivative agriș.[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of 1551–1553, in Matthew 13:33, the parable of the leaven.[3][12] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss Slavonic кисело “sour” with it, from Mardarie's of 1649 on.[17]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is the taste of vinegar or lemon.[2][12] Of fruit it means “unripe”, and of milk, cabbage or cheese “soured, fermented”: lapte acru is curdled milk and varză acră sauerkraut.[6][12] Fixed phrases name other things: piatră acră is alum, and in Transylvania apă acră is mineral water.[6][12]

Figurative uses grew from the taste.[12][2] A-i veni cuiva acru meant “to be sickened, fed up with something”, as in Anton Pann's line „Mi-a venit acră, destul” “I've had enough of it” (of solitude).[12][16][18] Of people, the adjective came to mean sullen, grumpy or spiteful.[2][19] Hasdeu recorded that peasants called the town clothes of the gentry haine acre “sour clothes”.[16]

Timeline

  • 1551–1553 – acru and the noun acrime “sourness” in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book.[3][12]
  • 1649 – Mardarie's lexicon glosses Slavonic “sour” with acru.[17]
  • c. 1650 – the verb acri “to turn sour”.[3]
  • 1691–1697 – the diminutive acrișor “sourish”.[3]
  • 1778 – acreață “sourness” in Macarie's lexicon.[3]
  • 1807 – acricios “somewhat sour”.[3]
  • 1837 – acreală “sourness; sour food or drink”.[3]
  • 1887 – acriș “soured whey”, a Banat and Transylvanian word.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. sour: having the taste of vinegar or lemon; sharp, acid to the taste: Merele astea sunt prea acre.[2][20]
  2. Of fruit, unripe; of food, soured by fermentation, as in lapte acru “sour milk”.[6][21]
  3. (figurative) sullen, grumpy, touchy; spiteful; also upset, glum.[2]

Noun

  1. A sour taste.[2]

Word family

  • acreală
  • acreață
  • acri
  • acricios
  • acrime
  • acriș
  • acrișor
  • acritură
  • acriu
  • acruț
  • înăcreală
  • înăcri
  • Aromanian acru
  • Latin ācer

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 9
  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” (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. acru
  4. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. acru
  5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. acru
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 11
  7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. acru
  8. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. acru
  9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 17
  10. ^ a b c 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. acru
  11. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 15
  12. ^ 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. acru
  13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  14. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 92
  15. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 13
  16. ^ a b c Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. acru
  17. ^ 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. acru
  18. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 1
  19. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 67
  20. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. acru
  21. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. acru

Related etymologies

  • cap · also from French
  • dura · also from French
  • pur · also from French
  • pană · also from French
  • pat · also from French
  • masă · also from French
  • lac · also from French
  • primar · also from French
Cite this entry

“Acru.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/acru. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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