Etymologically
Log in

iubi

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word iubi

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1500–1520 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki More words from the 15th century
Borrowed from
Old Church Slavonic любити
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Old Church Slavonic любити (ljubiti)
Romanian iubi
From the same root
Romanian iubire ← любити

Pronunciation

Forms

iubi (third-person singular present iubește, past participle iubit) 4th conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic любити (ljubiti, “to love”), the Old Church Slavonic verb, which goes back to Proto-Slavic *ľubiti and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to desire, love”).[2][3][4][5][1] Wiktionary allows a direct loan from Proto-Slavic as well.[1] The Slavic cognates include Bulgarian любя (ljubja), Ukrainian любити (ljubyty) and Russian любить (ljubitʹ).[2] The old form liubi keeps the Slavonic /lj/.[2][5]

Other words of the same Slavic family came into Romanian separately: ibovnic “lover” from Old Church Slavonic любовьникъ (ljubovĭnikŭ), and the old libov “love”.[2][6] DER notes that the verb is used all over the Romanian-speaking area.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 10:8, with the sense “to love”.[7] Tiktin cites the Psaltirea Scheiană, and MDA2 the Codicele Voronețean.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The core sense “to love” has not changed since the psalters.[7][4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 renders the commandment as „Să iubești pre aproapele tău ca pre tine” “love thy neighbour as thyself”.[5] In the old language it also meant “to prefer”, “to choose” and “to desire”, and a iubi să “to like to”, which Tiktin traces to Greek and Latin models, is found in Antim Ivireanul: „Iubești tu să te laude și să te cinstească alții?” “do you like others to praise and honour you?”.[4][5] The reflexive a se iubi cu cineva “to have a love affair with someone” is in Alecsandri.[5][4]

Romanian derived the noun iubire “love”, the participle iubit “beloved, boyfriend” and iubitor “loving”.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1500–1520 – iubi in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, Psalm 10:8, the first record.[7]
  • c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.[4]
  • 1570 – iubii “I loved” in Coresi's psalter, Psalm 25:8.[8]
  • 1649 – the participle iubit in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[9]
  • 1688 – „Să iubești pre aproapele tău” in the Bucharest Bible, Leviticus 19:18.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To love, to be in love with someone;[3][4][1] (reflexive, reciprocal) to love each other, and specifically to have a sexual relationship.[3][4][1]
  2. (transitive) To be deeply attached to someone or something, to cherish: Își iubește meseria.[3][4]
  3. (transitive) To like to do something.[3][5]
  4. (obsolete) To prefer; to choose; to desire.[4]

Word family

  • iubire
  • iubit
  • iubită
  • iubitor
  • iubeț
  • iubăreț
  • preaiubi
  • ibovnic
  • iboste

Usage notes

Informal Romanian also has a noun iubi “baby, darling”, used chiefly as a term of address, a clipping of iubire or iubit.[1] The present is iubesc; old texts also have ibesc, and MDA2 records the variant ibi.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. iubi
  3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 527
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1171
  5. ^ 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. iubi
  6. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 3, 388
  7. ^ a b c 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 10:8
  8. ^ 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 25:8
  9. ^ 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. iubit

Related etymologies

  • prea · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • înșela · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • pară · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • somn · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • veste · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • coș · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • lin · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • râs · also from Old Church Slavonic
Cite this entry

“Iubi.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/iubi. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·