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dânsul

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word dânsul

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1500–1520 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origin
Latin ipse
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Romanian îns
Romanian dânsul

Forms

dânsul m (feminine dânsa, masculine plural dânșii, feminine plural dânsele; genitive-dative dânsului, dânsei, dânșilor, dânselor)[1]

Etymology

DELR derives it from Romanian îns (“he himself”), the old pronoun from Latin ipse (“himself”).[2][3] In the oldest texts it occurs only after the preposition la (from Latin illāc ad): the final /d/ of the Latin preposition, kept before a vowel, was taken as the start of the pronoun.[2] From there the new form spread to other prepositions and then to use without one.[2] The form with /â/ follows însul.[2] The same kept /d/ is seen in adins.[2]

DEX, the DLR, CADE and Candrea–Densusianu instead analyse it from Romanian de + însul.[1][2] DELR objects that the old phrases formed in that way meant “of him”, a preposition with the pronoun.[2] Tiktin also allowed a Latin phrase “that same”, comparing Italian desso, which DELI derives from id and the same Latin pronoun.[4][5][6]

Its Aromanian counterpart is dis.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, with the form dins after a preposition.[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In the old language dânsul was a pronoun for the oblique cases after prepositions, more usual there than el; after în the form was întrânsul instead.[4] The newer popular language also uses it as a subject and added the genitive-dative forms dânsului, dânsei.[4] Today it serves as a pronoun of moderate politeness, between el and dumnealui.[2][1]

Popular speech uses it for one's husband or wife, and as a euphemism: dânsele are the iele, the malevolent fairies, and in Moldavia boala de dânsele is a rheumatic illness blamed on them, as well as the plants used against it.[2][7] Moldavian speech also uses dânsul euphemistically for the wolf.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1500-1520 – dins in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.[2][8]
  • 1570 – d-însul in Coresi's Psalter.[9]
  • 1589 – dînsul in Coresi's Slavonic–Romanian Psalter.[10]
  • 1649 – dînsul and dînsa in Mardarie's lexicon.[11]
  • 1682 – dânsuși “he himself” in Dosoftei.[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. (polite) he, she: Dânsul este profesorul nostru.[1][2]
  2. (after prepositions, older) him, her: Am vorbit cu dânsa.[12][4]
  3. ca pe dânsul (popular): terribly, tremendously.[1]

Noun

  1. (popular) husband, wife.[1][7]
  2. dânsele (popular, euphemistic): the iele, malevolent fairies.[1][2]

Word family

  • dânsuși

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 273
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. dânsul
  3. ^ 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. îns
  4. ^ 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. dâns
  5. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 608
  8. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 54:13
  9. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 103:28
  10. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 88:20
  11. ^ 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. dînsul
  12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 138
Cite this entry

“Dânsul.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/d%C3%A2nsul. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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