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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word fus

fus1 spindle

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1493 a document cited by Tiktin
Inherited from
Latin fusus
Ultimate origin
Latin fūsus

Pronunciation

Forms

fus n (plural (spinning) fuse or (other senses) fusuri)[1]

Etymology

The word for the spindle is inherited from Latin fūsus (“spindle”).[2][3][4][5][6][7] The origin of the Latin word is unknown.[1] The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian fus, Megleno-Romanian fus and Istro-Romanian fus.[5][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian fuso, Catalan fus, Spanish huso and Portuguese fuso.[5] Some modern technical senses, the spherical lune and the time zone, follow French fuseau.[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1493, and the plural fusuri to 1621.[4] MDA2's first record is the Bucharest Bible of 1688.[3] The Bible already uses it for the shaft of the candlestick: „fusul sfeșnicului”.[4][11]

Semantic evolution

The spinning spindle is the first sense.[2][4] The spindle's shape and turning gave names to many parts of tools and machines: the spindle of the shuttle and the reel, the axle of a water mill and its wheel, the journal of an axle, the shaft of a column or an anchor, the bare trunk of a tree.[2][3][4] Thin legs are fuse in jokes.[2][12] The two plurals divide the senses: fuse for the spinning spindle, fusuri for the technical ones.[2]

In geometry and geography fus sferic is a spherical lune and fus orar a time zone, after French usage.[2][10] The derivative fusar “spindle maker” Pușcariu takes directly from Latin fūsārius.[5]

Timeline

  • 1493 – the first record.[4]
  • 1621 – the plural fusuri.[4]
  • c. 1660 – fusul in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, glossing Slavonic “spindle”.[13]
  • 1688 – fusul sfeșnicului “the shaft of the candlestick” in the Bucharest Bible.[11][4]
  • 1801 – Fus “fusus” in Klein's dictionary.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A spindle: a long thin stick, thicker in the middle and weighted at the lower end, used to twist the thread in spinning and to wind it up.[2][3]
  2. The spindle of a spinning machine.[2]
  3. A part of a weaving or winding machine shaped like a spindle.[2]
  4. A shaft or axle in a machine; the journal, the part of a shaft that turns in a bearing.[2][1]
  5. The trunk of a tree from the base to the top, without the branches.[2]
  6. The shaft of a column, between the base and the capital.[2]
  7. The shank of an anchor.[2]
  8. (geometry) Fus sferic, a spherical lune;[10] fus orar, a time zone.[2][10]

Word family

  • fusar
  • fuscior

fus2 square foot (leather)

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
German Fuß
Ultimate origin
German Fuß
Etymology tree of fus2
inherited borrowed derived
German Fuß
Romanian fus
From the same root · fus2
German Fußball ← Fuß

Pronunciation

Forms

fus n (plural fuse or fusuri)[1]

Etymology

The word for the unit of leather is borrowed from German Fuß (“foot”).[2][5][1] The German word is the general word for the foot, used also as a measure of length.[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 cites it only from the manuscript of the Academy dictionary.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (leather industry) A unit of area for leather, a square foot of 929 cm², a square with sides of 30.48 cm; a piece of leather of that size.[2][3][16]

Usage notes

The spinning spindle has the plural fuse, the technical senses fusuri; the leather unit has fusuri, also fuse.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 422
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 957
  4. ^ 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. fus
  5. ^ 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. fus
  6. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 59
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3620
  8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  9. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 111
  10. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. fus
  11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 25:31
  12. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. fus
  13. ^ 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. fusul
  14. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 363
  15. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  16. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 348

Related etymologies

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  • pas · also from German
  • lac · also from German
  • rută · also from German
  • arie · also from German
  • laț · also from German
  • must · also from German
  • telefon · also from German
Cite this entry

“Fus.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/fus. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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