Etymologically
Log in

bandă

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word bandă

bandă1 gang, band of people

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1814
Borrowed from
French bande
Ultimate origin
Medieval Latin bandum
Etymology tree of bandă1
inherited borrowed derived
French bande
Romanian bandă

Forms

bandă f (plural bande)[1]

Etymology

The word for a gang or band of people is borrowed from French bande and, at the same time, borrowed from German Bande, as DEX and DILF give it.[2][3] DELR names the same two and possibly Italian banda;[4] DER names French and Italian, and Tiktin German, Italian, French and Modern Greek μπάντα (bánda).[5][6][7] DEXI compares English band.[4]

The French word comes from Old Occitan banda, a borrowing of an old Germanic word that DELR compares with the Gothic word for “sign”; Medieval Latin bandum (“banner”) is recorded in the 7th century.[5][8] It first meant a troop of soldiers fighting under one banner.[5][9] The German word is from French.[10]

The Aromanian word is a separate borrowing, Aromanian bandă, which DER takes from Greek and the Greek from Italian.[6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1814.[7][5] MDA2's first record is in the Uricariul, before 1834.[12] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 explains it as a company of several members, with Latin grex and German Bande.[13]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense, now obsolete, is a troop of soldiers under one banner: Bălcescu writes of „o bandă din cavaleria noastră” “a band of our cavalry” sent to harass the enemy's rearguard.[14][7] From it came a group joined for some purpose, most often a bad one: Beldiman already speaks of a band of robbers.[14] In familiar speech it is a group of friends who are always together.[2][12]

A band of musicians is another old sense: a troupe of lăutari, a military brass band.[2][15] In Maramureș bandă still names a band of fiddlers.[16][17]

Timeline

  • 1814 – the first record.[7][5]
  • 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda: a company of several members.[13]
  • before 1834 – in the Uricariul.[12]
  • 1834 – bandit “bandit”, from French and Italian.[5]
  • 1880 – banditism in Eminescu.[5]
  • 1900 – banditesc in Caragiale.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A gang of criminals acting under a leader: O bandă de hoți a jefuit magazinul.[2][12][1]
  2. (jocular) A group of friends who go about together.[2][12]
  3. (obsolete) A troop of soldiers under one banner.[2][12]
  4. A band of musicians; a brass band, a band of lăutari.[2][12]

Word family

  • bandit
  • banditesc
  • banditism

bandă2 strip, tape, band

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1832 a manuscript of I. Golescu
Borrowed from
French bande
Ultimate origin
Frankish *bindā
Etymology tree of bandă2
inherited borrowed derived
French bande
Romanian bandă

Forms

bandă f (plural benzi)[1]

Etymology

The word for a strip or tape is borrowed from French bande, as DEX and DELR give it.[2][5] MDA2 and Wiktionary add German Bande.[12][1] Borcia takes the sense “iron clamp” from German Band, directly or through French or Italian; it replaced the older bantă or ⟨beantă⟩, in the towns only, through foreign craftsmen.[18]

The French word was first Old French bende, from the first half of the 12th century, and bande from about 1165–1170.[19] It comes from Frankish *bindā (“tie, band”), of the family of the verb bintan (“to bind”).[19][5][20] DELR thinks the Germanic word came into Late Latin already, as the ⟨e⟩ of Italian benda and Catalan bena suggests.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is of about 1832, in a manuscript of I. Golescu, with the old variant bendă.[5] MDA2's first record is in Filimon, as Hasdeu quotes him: „un sipet mare, legat în bande de fier alb” “a large chest bound with strips of tin”.[12][14]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is a strip of cloth, paper, leather or metal that wraps, ties or strengthens something, and a strip that trims a garment.[2][14] Mail sent sub bandă is wrapped in a paper strip.[21] The 20th century added technical senses: magnetic tape, the conveyor belt, the lane of a road, a band of frequencies and the cushion of a billiard table.[2][5] Bandă desenată “comic strip” is recorded from 1980 and bandă de alergare “treadmill” from 2003.[22]

Its family is mostly French: bandaj “bandage” from 1842, bandeletă from 1842, bandajist from 1852 and platbandă from 1867;[22] bandaja “to bandage” is recorded from 1888 and bandotecă “tape library” from 1962.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1832 – the first record, in I. Golescu.[5]
  • 1842 – bandaj “bandage” and bandeletă “narrow strip”.[5]
  • 1852 – bandajist “bandage maker”.[5]
  • 1867 – platbandă “flat moulding; flower border”.[5]
  • 1888 – bandaja “to bandage”.[5]
  • 1962 – bandotecă “tape library”.[5]
  • 1980 – bandă desenată “comic strip”.[22]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A strip of cloth, rubber or other material that wraps, ties or strengthens something; a strip that trims a garment, usually at the edges.[2][12][1]
  2. In set phrases: bandă de magnetofon “recording tape”, bandă rulantă “conveyor belt”, lucru pe bandă “assembly-line work”, bandă de circulație “traffic lane”, bandă de frecvențe “frequency band”.[2][1]
  3. The cushion of a billiard table; the edge of a bowling lane.[2]
  4. The rib that joins the two barrels of a shotgun.[2]
  5. A group of neighbouring frequencies of electromagnetic or sound radiation.[2]
  6. (computing) Bandă perforată: punched tape for putting data into or out of a computer.[2]

Word family

  • bandaj
  • bandaja
  • bandajist
  • bandeletă
  • bandotecă
  • platbandă
  • bantă
  • bentiță
  • bandieră

Usage notes

The two words differ in the plural: bande for the gang, benzi for the strip.[2][6] Bantă, from Transylvanian Saxon, and the Hungarian loan pantă “iron band” are of the same Germanic family.[5]

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 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. 88
  3. ^ 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. bandă
  4. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. bandă
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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. bandă
  6. ^ 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. bandă
  7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bandă
  8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  10. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 87
  11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 192
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 163
  13. ^ a b 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. 45
  14. ^ a b c d 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. bandă
  15. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. bandă
  16. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. bandă
  17. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. bandă
  18. ^ Borcia, Ioan (1903–1904), Deutsche Sprachelemente im Rumänischen, Leipzig (in Weigand, Zehnter Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig), p. 40
  19. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  20. ^ Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  21. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 194
  22. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. bandă

Related etymologies

  • casă · also from German
  • pas · also from German
  • lac · also from German
  • rută · also from German
  • arie · also from German
  • laț · also from German
  • must · also from German
  • telefon · also from German
Cite this entry

“Bandă.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/band%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·