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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word inar

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1741 a Moldavian document published by Iorga More words from the 18th century
Ultimate origin
Latin līnum

Forms

inar m (plural inari)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian in + -ar, from in “flax” with the agent suffix.[2][3][1] Tiktin, DA and Wiktionary also allow a direct continuation of Latin līnārius (“linen weaver, linen dealer”), formed on līnum (“flax”).[4][3][1] Its Romance counterparts are French linier, Spanish linero and Portuguese linheiro, and Aromanian has ljinar.[5][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Moldavian document of 1741 published by Iorga, in which someone is to keep account of the flax growers' money as their share of the tax falls: „Inar[i]lor, dup[ă] cum îi va ajunge cisla, le va ținea în sam[ă] toț banii”.[4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word named those who grew flax and those who traded in it.[2][3] In I. Ionescu's 19th-century writing on farming, work is given to the oil pressers, the inari and the women so that they do not waste the winter;[3][7] CADE defines the inar as a dealer in flax yarn who buys the hanks the women spin in winter.[3][7] MDA2 now marks it as dated.[2]

Timeline

  • 1741 – the first record, in a Moldavian document.[4][2]
  • 1874 – Baronzi gives it for French marchand de lin.[8]
  • 1886 – Barcianu glosses it German “Leinbauer, Flachshändler”.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated) A grower of flax.[2][1]
  2. (dated) A dealer in flax or flax yarn.[2][7]
  • in
  • Aromanian ljinar

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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, 1123
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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. inar
  4. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. inár
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5059
  6. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 120
  7. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. inar
  8. ^ Baronzi, George (1874), Vocabular de 2000 termeni, idiotismi, locuțiuni, proverbi, Galați, p. 24
  9. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 276
Cite this entry

“Inar.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/inar. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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