Etymology and origin of the Romanian word bucătărie
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1691 Mărgăritare More words from the 17th century
- Ultimate origin
- Latin bucca
Pronunciation
- /bukətəˈrije/[1]
Forms
bucătărie f (plural bucătării)[1]
Etymology
It is formed from Romanian bucătar (“cook”) + -ie.[2][3][4][5][1] DELR gives this view with Candrea–Densusianu, the DA, DEX and Tiktin, and names the CADE's derivation from the plural bucate “dishes, food” as the other.[6] The suffix makes nouns of place and abstract nouns, here the cook's room and his craft.[4]
The cook's name is itself formed on the plural of bucată “piece; in the plural, food”, which is from Vulgar Latin *buccata (“mouthful”), from Latin bucca (“mouth, cheek”).[6][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is in the Mărgăritare of 1691.[6][5] Tiktin quotes from it „cela ce slujește la bucătărie” “he who serves in the kitchen”.[5] MDA2 dates it only to 1852, in a document in the Uricariul noting where „o spălătorie și bucătărie” “a laundry and a kitchen” could be built.[3][4]
Semantic evolution
The kitchen was often a separate building from the house.[4][7] Tiktin also records the preparing of food, and the DA, after French, a people's or a region's way of cooking: bucătărie franceză, bucătărie vieneză.[5][4] Figuratively, in familiar use, it is the minor work behind a larger one: Vlahuță wrote of young men who did “the kitchen of the newspaper”.[8][2] Later phrases are bucătărie de campanie, a field kitchen on wheels, and bucătărie-tip, a standard set of kitchen furniture (1962).[2][9]
Timeline
- 1633 – bucătar “cook”.[6]
- 1688 – bucătăreasă “woman cook” in the Bucharest Bible.[6]
- 1691 – bucătărie in the Mărgăritare.[6][5]
- 1825 – bucătărie with Latin coquina, culina in the Lexicon de la Buda.[10]
- 1852 – a kitchen in a document of the Uricariul.[3]
- 1870 – the diminutive bucătărioară.[6]
- 1962 – bucătărie-tip in the press.[9]
Meanings
Noun
- A room or building where food is cooked, a kitchen, cuhnie: Mama e în bucătărie.[2][1]
- By extension, all the objects and appliances used for cooking.[2][3]
- bucătărie de campanie: a vehicle equipped to prepare hot food for troops on the move, a field kitchen.[2]
- (figurative, familiar) All the details and work behind a demonstration or a piece of work once its main idea is set.[2]
- Cooking, or the way of preparing food of a nation or region, a cuisine: bucătărie românească.[2][3]
Word family
- bucătărioară
Related words
- bucătar
- bucătăreasă
- bucată
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 121
- ^ 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, 252
- ^ 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. bucătărie
- ^ 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. bucătăríe
- ^ a b c d e f g 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. bucată
- ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 285
- ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. bucătărie
- ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. bucătăríe
- ^ 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. 69
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Bucătărie.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/buc%C4%83t%C4%83rie. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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