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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word faur

faur1 February

Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1825 the Lexicon de la Buda, in luna lui Faur
Ultimate origin
Latin Februārius
Etymology tree of faur1
inherited borrowed derived
Romanian făurar
Romanian faur

Forms

faur m[1]

Etymology

The word for February is a back-formation from Romanian făurar1 (“February”).[1][2][3] That word, from Februārius, fell together with făurar2 “smith”, a derivative of faur2, and by analogy with that pair the short form for February was made.[4][5] Cihac had derived it directly from the Latin name of the month.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Lexicon de la Buda (1825) records it in the phrase luna lui Faur “the month of Faur”, referring to the entry for February.[7] MDA2 gives Sbiera's memoirs of 1899 as its first record.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the popular name of the month, beside the learned februarie.[1][8] Cihac and Tiktin quote it from the same calendar text, where crops are sown in Faur.[6][9] Coșbuc used it in poetry: „Cruntul muget e viscolul din faur” “the cruel roar is the blizzard of February”.[10]

Timeline

  • 1825 – luna lui Faur in the Lexicon de la Buda.[7]
  • 1870 – Cihac records luna lui Faur.[6]
  • 1886 – Barcianu glosses Faur as both smith and February.[11]
  • 1899 – in Sbiera's memoirs.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (popular) February.[1][2]

faur2 smith

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1429 the place name Făurei in a Slavonic–Romanian document
Inherited from
Latin faber
Ultimate origin
Latin faber
Etymology tree of faur2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin faber
Italian fabbro
Romanian faur
From the same root · faur2
Latin fabrica ← faber
Latin fabrīlis ← faber

Forms

faur m (plural fauri)[12]

Etymology

The word for the smith is inherited from Latin faber (“craftsman, smith”) (accusative fabrum).[13][1][2][9][14][12] Scriban compares the outcome of Latin /br/ with staul.[15] The Latin word may go back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰHbʰ-ro- (“craftsman”), but it has no clear cognates.[16][12]

It survives in Aromanian and Istro-Romanian: Aromanian favru and Istro-Romanian fǫwru.[13][17] Its Romance cognates include Italian fabbro, Occitan faure and Old French fevre.[13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the word to the place name Făurei “little smiths” in a Slavonic–Romanian document of 1429.[9] MDA2 gives a text of before 1580 printed in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni as the first Romanian record.[2] Mardarie's lexicon of 1649 glosses it by Slavonic phrases for a smith of iron and of copper.[18]

Semantic evolution

The Bible of 1688 has it in Genesis 4:22, „faur de aramă și de fier” “a smith of brass and iron”.[9][19] The Academy dictionary describes it as still used in Transylvania, where the smith was often also the farrier and locksmith of the village, but obsolete elsewhere and replaced by fierar.[20] The fairy tales have faurul pământului, a smith with magic powers who forges enchanted things, and a saying a cumpăra cărbuni de la faur “to buy coal from the smith” means to pay a high price at second hand.[2][21] The name also passed to a small brown click beetle (Elater segetum).[13][1][22] It is frequent as a surname and in place names.[23][24]

Timeline

  • 1429 – the place name Făurei in a Slavonic–Romanian document.[9]
  • before 1580 – faur in a text printed in the Cuvente den bătrâni.[2]
  • 1649 – faur in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[18]
  • 1688 – faur de aramă și de fier in the Bucharest Bible (Genesis 4:22).[19]
  • 1825 – fauru in the Lexicon de la Buda.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (archaic) A smith, blacksmith.[1][2]
  2. A click beetle of the family Elateridae, slender, hairy and chestnut-brown.[1][2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ 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. 1, 383
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 880
  3. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 103
  4. ^ 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. făurar
  5. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. făurar
  6. ^ a b c Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 90
  7. ^ a b c 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. 213
  8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. faur
  9. ^ 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. faur
  10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 265
  11. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 223
  12. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  13. ^ a b c d 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. faur
  14. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  15. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 495
  16. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  17. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 450
  18. ^ a b 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. faur
  19. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gn 4:22
  20. ^ 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. faur
  21. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. faur
  22. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. faur
  23. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. faur
  24. ^ Iordan, Iorgu (1983), Dicționar al numelor de familie românești, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 194

Related etymologies

  • bun · also from Latin
  • unde · also from Latin
  • veni · also from Latin
  • noi · also from Latin
  • bine · also from Latin
  • un · also from Latin
  • și · also from Latin
  • sta · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Faur.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/faur. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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