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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word joi

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1563–1583 Codicele Voronețean More words from the 16th century
Inherited from
Latin dies Iovis
Ultimate origin
Latin Iuppiter

Pronunciation

Forms

joi f (plural joi)[1] MDA2 records the variant jui.[2] The articled form joia is used as an adverb, “on Thursday, every Thursday”.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin diēs Iovis (“day of Jupiter”), with the noun “day” left out.[5][2][3][1] Iovis is the genitive of Iuppiter (“Jupiter”).[1] The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian gioi and Megleno-Romanian joi.[5][6][7] The other Romance languages kept the same phrase: Italian giovedì, Occitan jous, French jeudi and Spanish jueves.[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a gloss on James 1:27 in the Codicele Voronețean.[4] MDA2 dates the word to Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură of 1581.[2]

Semantic evolution

Folk custom gave names to particular Thursdays: Joia Mare “Maundy Thursday”, the last Thursday of Lent, Joia verde and Joia iepelor, days kept by the peasants after Easter for fear of hail and harm to the cattle.[4][9][2] From Joimari came joimăriță, a female spirit of folk belief who punishes lazy women.[5][10] Fixed phrases use the day for “never” or “rarely”: de joi până mai apoi “for ever, never”, din joi în Paște “once in a blue moon”.[3][4]

The word was borrowed into Romani as źoj.[1] Joian, a name given to oxen born on a Thursday, and joică, a name for a cow, are Romanian formations;[5][7] Megleno-Romanian has a similar cow's name.[5][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1563-1583 – the first record, a gloss in the Codicele Voronețean.[4]
  • 1581 – in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.[2]
  • 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible (Zechariah 7:5).[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Thursday, the fourth day of the week, after Wednesday.[3][1]
  2. Joia Mare: Maundy Thursday, the last Thursday of Lent.[3][2]
  3. (adverbial, as joia) On Thursday; every Thursday.[3]

Word family

  • joian
  • joimăriță

Usage notes

A separate regional verb joi (also gioi, giui), used in Banat, Transylvania and Moldavia for “to satisfy, to cope with”, is not related: the DLR, following Drăganu, takes it from Hungarian gyönni, a dialect form of jön (“to come”).[12][4][13] Phrases: de joi până mai apoi “never”, din joi în Paște “very rarely”.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1286
  3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 567
  4. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. joi
  5. ^ 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. joi
  6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 500
  7. ^ a b c Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 161
  8. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 79
  9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 716
  10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 702
  11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Zah 7:5
  12. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. joi
  13. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 481

Related etymologies

  • apă · also from Latin
  • bun · also from Latin
  • unde · also from Latin
  • veni · also from Latin
  • noi · also from Latin
  • bine · also from Latin
  • un · also from Latin
  • și · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Joi.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/joi. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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