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dincolo

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word dincolo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1560–1561 Coresi's Tetraevanghel, in the form dencolo More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origins
Proto-Italic *dē,*enRomanian colo
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin dē
Aromanian deadun
Aromanian di
French de
Italian da
Italian di
Italian dove
Romanian de
Romanian dincolo
Spanish de
From the same root
Latin deante ← dē
Latin dēforīs ← dē
Latin dehinc ← dē
Latin deinde ← dē
Latin deinter ← dē
Latin deintrō ← dē
Latin dēintus ← dē
Latin dēlīrō ← dē
Latin dēmum ← dē
Latin dēnique ← dē
Latin dēnuō ← dē
Latin dēretrō ← dē
Latin dēsubtus ← dē
Latin dēsuper ← dē
Latin dēsūrsum ← dē
Latin dēterior ← dē
Latin dēviō ← dē
Latin dorsum ← dē
Latin duodēvīgintī ← dē
Latin ūndēvīgintī ← dē
French cul-de-sac ← de
French davantage ← de
French debout ← de
French devant ← de
French dinde ← de
Italian dappertutto ← da
Italian davvero ← da
Italian dipoi ← di
Romanian dacă ← de
Romanian dânsul ← de
See all derived words →

Pronunciation

Forms

dincolo adverb (invariable).[2] Old texts write dencolo and have a by-form dincolea (dencolea in the New Testament of 1648); the Bible of 1688 has „Israil stă pre munte dencolea” “Israel stands on the mountain on the other side”.[3][4] Besides the usual stress on the first syllable, dincólo is also heard.[2][5]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian de + încolo, “from” and “thither”.[3][4][5][2][1] încolo in turn joins în and colo, a short form of acolo,[3] which goes back to Latin eccum and illōc (“thither”).[3][6] Scriban saw din in it instead of de, followed by the same colo.[7][7]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian dincló and Megleno-Romanian dioanculó.[3][8] Its counterpart for “on this side” is dincoace.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is in Coresi's Gospels of 1560–1561, in the form dencolo and in the phrase dencoace și dencolo “on this side and that”.[3] The chroniclers use it often: Miron Costin writes that the second founding came first in Wallachia and then in Moldavia, here through Dragoș, „dincolo prin Negrul-Vodă” “on the other side through Negru-Vodă”.[4]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is spatial, “on the other side” of a river, a mountain or a border, opposite the speaker, in contrast with dincoace.[4][2] From this came the prepositional phrase dincolo de “on the other side of”, and then “beyond, apart from” in an abstract sense.[2][5] In religious language dincolo is the other world, the life after death.[2][5] Paired with ici or aici it means simply “elsewhere”, and așa și pe dincolo is “so and so”, said when the speaker will not go into detail.[2] In Transylvania dincolo de an meant “the year before last”.[9] Slang used it for prison, and in the communist period for the West.[10]

Timeline

  • 1560–1561 – dencolo in Coresi's Gospels, the first record.[3]
  • 1648 – the by-form dencolea in the New Testament.[3]
  • 1688 – dencolea in the Bucharest Bible.[4]
  • 1887 – dincolo in Odobescu, MDA2's first record.[5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. On the other side, on the side opposite the speaker.[2] De dincolo is “from the other side, from abroad”, and pe dincolo “by the other side, around”.[2][5][1]
  2. Dincolo de: on the other side of; beyond, apart from: Locuiesc dincolo de râu.[2][5][1]
  3. (religion) In the other world, in the afterlife.[2][1]
  4. (paired with ici, colo, aici) elsewhere, in another place.[2] Așa și pe dincolo is “so and so”.[2][5]
  5. (slang) In prison; in the communist period, in the West.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 316
  3. ^ 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. acolo
  4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dincolo
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 717
  6. ^ 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. acolo
  7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 428
  8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 387
  9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. dincolo
  10. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. dincolo
Cite this entry

“Dincolo.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/dincolo. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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