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aspru

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word aspru

aspru1 asper, Ottoman silver coin

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1471 Slavonic charter
Borrowed from
Byzantine Greek ἄσπρον
Ultimate origin
Latin asper

Pronunciation

Forms

aspru m (plural aspri; old plural aspre)[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the coin is borrowed from Byzantine Greek ἄσπρον (áspron).[3][4][5] DEX, DER and MDA2 call the source Modern Greek, DELR Medieval and Modern Greek.[2][6][3] The Greek word is the neuter of the adjective άσπρος (áspros, “white”) used as a noun; it named a Byzantine silver coin and then the Ottoman one.[7][8] It goes back to Latin asper (“rough”), said of a new coin whose relief could still be felt, so the noun is a doublet of the adjective (homograph 2).[3][4][9] The plural ⟨aspre⟩ follows the Greek plural.[3]

The DA thinks the word came in with the coin, before the fall of Constantinople.[4] South of the Danube the coin is Aromanian aspru and Megleno-Romanian aspră.[6][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Slavonic charter of 1471.[4][12] DELR has it in Slavonic-Romanian documents from 1482–1496, and in Romanian texts from 1563–1564.[3]

Semantic evolution

The coin was the smallest Turkish silver coin;[4] Moxa counts twelve aspers to a silver florin, and the Moldavian law code two silver potronici to twelve aspers.[12][4] A Wallachian document of 1654 makes one asper worth two bani.[12] The DA records that the word still named the small Turkish silver coin worth 22 bani.[4][5] Folk carols kept the diminutive asprișor “a small coin”.[12][3]

Timeline

  • 1471 – a Slavonic charter, the first record.[4][12]
  • 1482–1496 – aspru in Slavonic-Romanian documents.[3]
  • 1563–1564 – the first Romanian text with the word.[3]
  • 1604 – „bani gata aspri 20,000” “20,000 aspers in cash” in a document from Vlașca.[4]
  • c. 1777–1780 – the diminutive asprișor.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (historical) the asper, a Turkish silver coin current in the Romanian lands from the 15th to the 19th century.[2][5]
  2. (obsolete) a small Turkish silver coin worth 22 bani.[5][4]

Word family

  • asprișor

aspru2 rough

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1618 a document cited by DELR and Tiktin
Inherited from
Latin asper
Ultimate origin
Latin asper
Etymology tree of aspru2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin asper
Romanian aspru
From the same root · aspru2
Latin asperē ← asper
Latin asperitās ← asper
Latin asperō ← asper

Pronunciation

Forms

aspru m or n (feminine singular aspră, masculine plural aspri, feminine/neuter plural aspre)[1]

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Latin asper (“rough, harsh”).[13][6][2][5][14][1] It survives in Megleno-Romanian aspru, and DER gives the same form for Aromanian, while Pușcariu gives ascur as the Aromanian word.[15][6][14][1] Its Romance cognates include Italian aspro, French âpre, Catalan aspre and Spanish áspero; compare Albanian aspëre.[6][9][14] The origin of the Latin word is uncertain: de Vaan reports Melchert's derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₂esp- (“to cut”) and an older one from ab and spernō.[16][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the adjective from a document of 1618.[13][12] Varlaam's homilies speak of cuvinte aspre “harsh words”.[12] MDA2's first record is Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686).[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is about touch: a rough surface, as opposed to smooth.[4][2] It was soon applied to the other senses: a harsh voice, sour wine, and hard water full of lime salts.[4][12] Figuratively it means severe in weather (iarnă aspră “a hard winter”) and in people (strict, unforgiving).[12][2] Sheep with coarse, curly wool are called oi aspre.[4]

The family includes asprime “roughness” (1698, Cantemir) and aspri “to make rough” (1825).[13] Asperitate “roughness” is a later loan from French aspérité and Latin.[13]

Timeline

  • 1618 – the first record, in a document.[13][12]
  • c. 1660–1670 – aspră in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[17]
  • 1682–1686 – Dosoftei's lives of the saints, MDA2's first record.[5]
  • 1688 – aspru and aspre in the Bucharest Bible.[18]
  • 1698 – asprime in Cantemir.[13]
  • 1825 – aspri “to roughen” in the Lexicon de la Buda.[13]
  • 1862 – asperitate in Pontbriant.[13]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. rough, coarse: with an uneven surface unpleasant to touch; of hair, stiff and bristly; of brushes, with hard bristles.[2][5][1]
  2. Of water, hard, rich in lime salts.[2]
  3. Of wine, sharp, sour.[2][5]
  4. (figurative, often adverbial) strong, fierce: vânt aspru “a biting wind”.[2]
  5. (figurative) hard to bear: iarnă aspră “a hard winter”.[2][12]
  6. (figurative) severe, harsh, unforgiving.[2][1]

Word family

  • asprime
  • aspri
  • înăspri
  • aspreală
  • aspriu

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 69
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. aspru1
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. aspru
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 114
  6. ^ a b c d e 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. aspru
  7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 708
  10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 168
  11. ^ 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, 44
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. aspru
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. aspru2
  14. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 12
  15. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 28
  16. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  17. ^ 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. aspră
  18. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Lc 3:5

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Aspru.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/aspru. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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