Etymology and origin of the Romanian word grădină
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- c. 1500–1520 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki More words from the 15th century
- Borrowed from
- Bulgarian градина
- Ultimate origin
- Old Church Slavonic градина
Pronunciation
- [ɡɾəˈdi.nə][1]
Forms
grădină f (plural grădini)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Bulgarian градина (gradina), or equally borrowed from Serbo-Croatian gradina, a Slavic loan.[2][3][1] Tiktin and Scriban give Old Church Slavonic градина (gradina) as the source.[4][5] Ciorănescu compares gard “fence” and Albanian gradinë.[2]
It is found south of the Danube as well: Aromanian grãdinã or gãrdinã, and Megleno-Romanian gărdină.[2][6][7][8] Capidan takes the Megleno-Romanian word from Bulgarian.[9]
Earliest recorded meaning
The roPsalt index finds the word in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 102.[10] Tiktin's first record is a document of 1554.[4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688, MDA2's first record, has it many times, from the garden of Eden on: Genesis 2:8.[3][11] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons use it to gloss Old Church Slavonic врътоградъ (vrŭtogradŭ) and рай (raj) “paradise”.[12]
Semantic evolution
The plot of land where vegetables, flowers or fruit trees are grown became also a planted public space for walks, grădină publică;[3][13] grădină botanică and grădină zoologică name the scientific institutions.[3][13] Scriban notes that grădină de copii “kindergarten” follows German Kindergarten.[5] Grădină de vară is an open-air summer restaurant.[14] Figuratively, o grădină de om is a delightful, likeable person, a phrase Tiktin quotes from Ghica and Vlahuță.[4][13]
Timeline
- c. 1500–1520 – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.[10]
- 1554 – a document.[4]
- 1649 – in Mardarie's lexicon, glossing Slavonic врътоградъ.[12]
- 1688 – often in the Bucharest Bible.[3][11]
Meanings
Noun
- A garden: a piece of land, usually fenced, where vegetables, flowers or fruit trees are grown.[13][3][1]
- A planted area with paths and benches for recreation or decoration; a park: grădina publică.[13][3]
- grădină botanică, a botanical garden;[3][14] grădină zoologică, a zoo.[3][14]
- (figurative) o grădină de om, a delightful, likeable person.[13][4]
Word family
- grădinar
- grădinăriță
- grădinăresc
- grădinări
- grădinărie
- grădinărit
- grădiniță
Related words
- gard
- Aromanian grãdinã
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c 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. grădină
- ^ 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, 1018
- ^ 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. grădínă
- ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 573
- ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 487
- ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 2, 191
- ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 195
- ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 136
- ^ a b 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 102:14
- ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 2:8
- ^ 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. grădină
- ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 448
- ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 408
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Grădină.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/gr%C4%83din%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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