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meu

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word meu

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1500–1520 the Hurmuzaki Psalter More words from the 15th century
Inherited from
Latin meus
Ultimate origin
Latin meus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin meus
Aromanian meu
French mien
Italian mio
Romanian meu
Spanish mi
Spanish mío

Pronunciation

Forms

meu m or n (feminine singular mea, masculine plural mei, feminine/neuter plural mele)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin meus (“my, mine”),[2][3][4][5][1] with the feminine mea from mea.[4] The regular outcome would have been ⟨mieu⟩, which lost its diphthong by analogy with the feminine ⟨mea⟩ according to Rosetti, or rather with the plural mei, as Ciorănescu thinks.[2]

It survives as Aromanian njeu (also meu), Megleno-Romanian meu and Istro-Romanian meu,[2][6][7] and its Romance cognates include Italian mio, Sardinian meu, Occitan mieu, Catalan meu, Spanish mío and Portuguese meu.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century;[3] Tiktin's is Neacșu's letter of 1521.[8] The sense is “my”.[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective “my” is also a pronoun with the article al, a, ai, ale: al meu “mine”.[4] The plural pronoun took the senses “my family” (ai mei) and “my things, my affairs” (ale mele), and the singular “my husband” or “my wife”.[3]

Popular speech uses enclitic forms after nouns of kinship: -miu, -mio (tată-miu).[3] Ciorănescu calls the stage pronunciation mieu an unfounded habit introduced by the actor C. Nottara.[2]

Timeline

  • early 16th century – in the Hurmuzaki Psalter, MDA2's first record.[3]
  • 1521 – in Neacșu's letter.[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. (with al, a, ai, ale) mine: Cartea asta e a mea.[4][1]
  2. (ai mei) My family, my relatives: Ai mei stau la țară.[4][3]
  3. (ale mele) My things, my affairs.[4][3]
  4. (pe-a mea) As I wish: Până la urmă a rămas pe-a mea.[4]

Adjective

  1. my: belonging to the speaker: casa mea.[4][1]
  2. My (of kinship, friendship and other relations): prietenul meu.[4]
  3. My (of the speaker's own qualities, acts and concerns): vocea mea, vina mea.[4][3]

Usage notes

The genitive-dative feminine is mele (prietenei mele); after a noun of kinship popular speech has -meu, -miu or the feminine genitive -mii.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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. meu
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1501
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 647
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5556
  6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 746
  7. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 275
  8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. meu

Related etymologies

  • 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
  • sta · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Meu.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/meu. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·