Etymology and origin of the Romanian word dura
dura1 build
From the same root · dura1
Pronunciation
- /duˈra/[1]
Forms
dura (first-person singular present durez, third-person singular present durează, past participle durat) 1st conjugation[2][1]
Etymology
The word for building is inherited from Latin dolō (“to hew, chop into shape”).[3][4][5][2][1][6] The older sense survives in Aromanian durari, first person dor, “to cut wood, carve”.[4][3] Ciorănescu compares Albanian duruem;[3] Romance cognates include French doler and Spanish dolar.[3][6] De Vaan derives the Latin verb from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁- (“to cut”).[7]
Earliest recorded meaning
DELR and MDA2 date the first record to the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583); Tiktin cites it there in 1 Peter 3:20.[4][5][8]
Semantic evolution
Tiktin traces the senses from hewing with an axe to carpentry and then to building in general, also in stone and other materials.[8] The verb was extended to making objects, preparing food, stacking a haystack and lighting a fire, and figuratively to inventing a lie.[4][5][2] In Maramureș it still means smoothing the edges of shingles.[4] DELR and MDA2 mark the verb as old or popular.[4][5]
Timeline
- c. 1563–1583 – dura “build” in the Codicele Voronețean.[4][8]
- 1833 – durător “builder” in Asachi.[4]
- 1939 – durătură “wood chips from hewing”.[4]
Meanings
Verb
- (transitive, dated or popular) To build or raise: a house, a bridge; to stack a haystack.[2][1][5]
- To make or put together an object.[2][1]
- To light a fire.[2][1]
- (rare) To hew or smooth wood.[1][3]
Word family
- durătură
dura2 last, endure
Etymology tree of dura2
From the same root · dura2
Pronunciation
- /duˈra/[1]
Forms
dura (third-person singular present durează, past participle durat) 1st conjugation[1]
Etymology
The word for lasting is borrowed from French durer (“to last”), a neologism of the 19th century, and also borrowed from Latin dūrō (“to harden; to endure, last”).[4][5][2][1][8] The neologism dictionaries add Italian durare as a model.[9] The Latin verb is formed on dūrus (“hard”), and DELR gives its first sense as “to be hard, resistant”, whence “to endure” and “to last”.[4][10] Every other Romance language inherited the Latin verb, but Romanian kept it only with a prefix, in îndura.[4][11]
Earliest recorded meaning
DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1846, in a work of Laurian, with the sense “to last”.[4][8]
Semantic evolution
The verb is used of events that take a certain time, of what persists, and of things that keep well;[2][5] MDA2 also records the figurative sense “to live”, said of people.[2][5] It came with a learned family: durabil in 1844, durată in 1846, durabilitate in 1858 and durativ in 1907.[4]
Timeline
- 1844 – durabil “lasting”.[4]
- 1846 – dura “last” and durată “duration” in Laurian.[4][8]
- 1858 – durabilitate.[4]
- 1907 – durativ in grammar.[4]
Meanings
Verb
- (intransitive) To last: to go on for a certain time; to persist, endure.[2][1][5]
- (of things) To stay in good condition, to be durable.[2]
Word family
- durabil
- durabilitate
- durată
- durativ
Related words
- îndura
- dur
Usage notes
DEX has a third homograph, the interjection dura (also dur), which imitates the sound of something rolling, as in de-a dura “head over heels”;[2][4] DELR calls it onomatopoeic and dates the variant dur to 1760–1761.[2][4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 337
- ^ a b c d e 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. dura
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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. dura
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 774
- ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2718
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. dura
- ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. dura
- ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2805
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Dura.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/dura. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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