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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word da

da1 yes

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1810–1819 Iancu Văcărescu's poems
Borrowed from
Bulgarian да
Ultimate origin
Proto-Slavic *da

Pronunciation

Etymology

The word for “yes” is a late borrowing from Slavic, most likely from several languages at once: borrowed from Bulgarian да (da) in the speech of Muntenia, Russian да (da) in the towns of Muntenia and Moldavia, and, in the Banat, Serbo-Croatian da.[2][3][4][1] MDA2 also names Old Church Slavonic да (da), but DELR rejects Old Church Slavonic: the word is recorded too late, and the use of the particle for “yes” is recent in South Slavic, and the Slavonic texts used another particle.[2][5] The Slavic particle goes back to Proto-Slavic *da, a conjunction “that, in order to”.[6] Ciorănescu compares Albanian da and Modern Greek δα (da).[3]

Latin had no word for “yes”: it repeated the verb of the question or used adverbs meaning “so, indeed”.[2] Romanian kept these habits, and before the loan it answered with așa, ie (from este) or the repeated verb, as many regions and the southern dialects still do.[2][7] The word is missing in Aromanian, Megleno- and Istro-Romanian.[1] Wiktionary mentions a controversial theory that derives it from Latin ita (“so, thus”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first records are the poems of Iancu Văcărescu, from 1810–1819.[2] Tiktin dates the word to 1839 and notes that it is recorded late: older texts and folk speech answer with așa.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word spread from Muntenia to the other regions from the 1860s.[1] Bible translations were slow to take it: the Pest Bible of 1873 has „Ci fie cuvântul vostru: Da, da;[7] Nu, nu” “But let your word be: Yes, yes;[7] No, no” (Matthew 5:37), but the Bucharest Bible of 1909 still says „așa, așa”.[7] Because dar “but” has a short form da, the two words were confused, and dar also came to mean “yes” in Moldavia and Transylvania.[7][2]

Timeline

  • 1810–1819 – first records, in Iancu Văcărescu's poems.[2]
  • 1839 – Tiktin's first dated record.[7]
  • 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary.[5]
  • 1873 – first used in a Bible translation, at Pest.[7]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. “yes”: answers a question in the affirmative or expresses agreement: Vii mâine? — Da. “Are you coming tomorrow? — Yes.”[4][1]
  2. Ba da: “yes (it is), oh yes”, an affirmative answer to a negative question.[4]

da2 give

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1500 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki
Inherited from
Latin do
Ultimate origin
Latin dō
Etymology tree of da2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin dō
Aromanian dau
Italian dare
Romanian da
Spanish dar
From the same root · da2
Latin circumdō ← dō
Latin datus ← dō
Latin dēdō ← dō
Latin dīdō ← dō
Latin ēdō ← dō
Latin obdo ← dō
Latin prōdō ← dō
Latin reddō ← dō
Latin trādō ← dō
Latin vendō ← dō

Pronunciation

Forms

da (third-person singular present dă, past participle dat, third-person subjunctive dea), 1st conjugation[1]

Etymology

The verb for “give” is inherited from Latin dō (“to give”).[2][3][5][1][8] Candrea and Densusianu derive the first person ⟨dau⟩ from Vulgar Latin *daō, which replaced the classical form.[9] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”).[1]

The verb survives in all four branches: Aromanian dau, Megleno-Romanian dau and Istro-Romanian då.[2][10][1] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian duor, Italian dare, Spanish dar and Portuguese dar; the verb is missing in Old French, where it merged with dōnō.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500, where it means “to give”.[2][12] Tiktin dates it to Neacșu's letter of 1521.[8]

Semantic evolution

Beside “give, hand over” the verb took many senses through its prepositions: with de or peste “to come upon, find”, with în “to fall into” and “to begin to”, with din “to move a part of the body”, and alone “to hit, strike”.[2][3] In the old language it also meant “to translate”.[2] With a noun it forms many verbal phrases (a da sfaturi “to advise”, a da răspuns “to answer”).[4] The reflexive a se da drept means “to pretend to be”.[3][1]

Old Romanian formed a whole family of adverbs on the noun dată “time, occasion”, itself formed on the verb: deodată and niciodată in 1566, îndată in 1607, odată around 1600, câteodată in 1648.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1500 – the first record, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.[2]
  • 1521 – in Neacșu's letter.[8]
  • 1566 – the adverbs deodată and niciodată in Coresi.[2]
  • 1570 – the noun dare “giving; tax”.[2]
  • 1581 – the noun dat “giving; tax; spell”.[2]
  • 1851 – reda “to give back”, after French rendre.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. “To give”: to hand, offer or put something at someone's disposal: I-am dat cartea. “I gave him the book.”[4][1]
  2. To share out; to assign a task: a da cuiva de lucru “to give someone work”.[4]
  3. To entrust, to send someone somewhere: a da copilul la școală “to send the child to school”.[4]
  4. To sell or pay at a price.[4][3]
  5. To produce, to yield: pământul dă roade “the land bears fruit”.[4][2]
  6. With a noun, forms verbal phrases: a da sfaturi “to advise”, a da răspuns “to answer”.[4]
  7. (intransitive) To hit, strike; to shoot: a da cu piatra “to throw a stone”.[4][1]
  8. (intransitive) To come upon, to find: a da de cineva “to run into someone”.[4][3]
  9. (intransitive, of windows or doors) To open onto, look out on.[4][2]
  10. (intransitive, with în) To begin to: a da în clocot “to come to the boil”, a da în copt “to begin to ripen”.[4]
  11. (reflexive, colloquial) a se da drept: to pretend to be.[3][1]

Word family

Usage notes

A third da is a colloquial short form of dar “but”: Da ce-ai pățit? “But what happened to you?”[4][1] DELR explains the regional dar “yes” by a confusion between this short form and da “yes”.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 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. da
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. da
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 269
  5. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 591
  6. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 94
  7. ^ 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. da
  8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. da 1
  9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. da
  10. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 174
  11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2476
  12. ^ 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 2:8

Related etymologies

  • lin · also from Bulgarian
  • grijă · also from Bulgarian
  • ciudat · also from Bulgarian
  • ba · also from Bulgarian
  • război · also from Bulgarian
  • grozav · also from Bulgarian
  • păstra · also from Bulgarian
  • bolnav · also from Bulgarian
Cite this entry

“Da.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/da. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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