300s

Romanian words from Latin words first recorded in the 4th century

10 Romanian words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 4th century, earliest Latin record first.

1. farmec

   325–403

   from Latin pharmacum

   It is inherited from Latin pharmacum (“drug, magic potion”), from Ancient Greek φάρμακον (phármakon, “drug, poison, charm”). Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu, Philippide and Rosetti take this Latin…

2. cumpăt

   334–337

   from Latin computus

   It is inherited from Latin computus (“calculation, reckoning”), probably through a popular variant *compitus. This is the view of Philippide, Șăineanu, Candrea and Densusianu, Tiktin, Ciorănescu and…

3. măr

   345–412

   from Latin melum

   It continues the Latin forms with /e/ for classical /a/: the fruit is inherited from Latin mēlum (“apple”), a variant of mālum, and the tree inherited from Vulgar Latin *mēlus (“apple tree”), for…

4. brâncă

   354–430

   from Latin branca

   1. The word for the disease is of uncertain origin, and DEX gives it as unknown. DELR thinks it probably a substrate word and compares Albanian brengë (“swelling, sore, diphtheria; swelling on the…

5. cămașă

   383–420

   from Latin camisia

   It is inherited from Late Latin camisia (“shirt”). The Latin word appears late, first in Jerome, and is held to be a borrowing from Gaulish or from Germanic, Wiktionary deriving it from Proto-West…

6. domn

   387

   from Latin domnus

   It is inherited from Late Latin domnus (“master, lord”), the shortened form of dominus. The short form already occurs in Latin inscriptions. The Latin word is an old derivative of domus (“house”)…

7. săptămână

   390–406

   from Latin septimana

   It is inherited from Late Latin septimāna (“week”), a Late Latin noun made from the Latin adjective septimānus (“of the number seven”), itself formed on septimus (“seventh”). The Latin adjective had…

8. măsura

   400

   from Latin mensuro

   It is inherited from Late Latin mēnsūrō (“to measure”), a verb first recorded in the 4th century and formed on mēnsūra (“measure”). Candrea–Densusianu, Tiktin and the REW take it straight from the…

9. păstură

   400

   from Latin pastura

   1. The word for bee bread is probably inherited from Latin pastūra (“pasture; food”), formed on pāscō (“to graze”). Ciorănescu calls the origin doubtful, because the dictionaries defined the…

10. spinare

    400–450

    from Latin spinalis

    It is inherited from Late Latin spīnālis (“of the spine”), used as a noun. Gabinschi explains it as the adjective with its noun left out, and Șăineanu supplies the noun pars (“part”). The Latin…

All Romanian words inherited from Latin, by century →