Etymologically
Log in

miercuri

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word miercuri

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

Pronunciation

  • /ˈmjerkurʲ/[1]

Forms

miercuri f (plural miercuri)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin diēs Mercuriī (“day of Mercury”), with the name of the god Mercurius in the genitive.[2][3][4][1] DEX, MDA2 and DLR start from the popular form mercuris, which Candrea and Densusianu set beside the classical genitive.[5][6][7][8] Tiktin explains the stress on the first syllable, as in the other Romance languages, by the names of the other days, such as Lūnae and Martis.[3] The Latin name is a calque of Ancient Greek ἡμέρα Ἑρμοῦ (hēméra Hermoû, “day of Hermes”).[1]

The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian Njercuri, and Ciorănescu also gives a Megleno-Romanian form.[2][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian mercoledì, French mercredi, Spanish miércoles and Sardinian mercuris.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), in the Acts of the Apostles, where some Jews swear to neither eat nor drink.[6][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has not changed: the third day of the week, after Tuesday.[5][2] A church rule of 1675 orders priests to serve on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Neculce dates an event „într-o miercuri în post” “on a Wednesday in Lent”.[7]

The Orthodox fast on Wednesdays and Fridays shaped folk speech: someone who did not keep the fasts was called spurcă-miercuri “Wednesday-defiler”.[3] Weddings were not held on a Wednesday, so toate pe dos și nunta miercuri “everything upside down and the wedding on a Wednesday” describes a mess.[3] The first Wednesday of Lent is miercurea strâmbă “crooked Wednesday”.[6] In folk tales a Saint Wednesday personifies the day.[10] The articled form miercurea is used as an adverb, “on Wednesdays”.[5][11]

Timeline

  • c. 1563–1583 – miercuri in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.[6][7]
  • c. 1660 – miercuri glossing the Slavonic word for Wednesday in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[12]
  • 1675 – miercuri in a church rule on services.[7]
  • 1833 – miercurea viitoare “next Wednesday” in a newspaper.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Wednesday: the third day of the week, after Tuesday.[5][6][1]

Adverb

  1. On a Wednesday, on the past or next Wednesday.[5][6]
  2. miercurea: every Wednesday, on Wednesdays.[5][6]
  • Aromanian Njercuri
  • Latin Mercurius

Usage notes

The plural is the same as the singular: în toate miercurile “on all Wednesdays”.[7][1] Ciorănescu records the derivative miercan, the name of an ox or cow born on a Wednesday.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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. miercuri
  3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. miercuri
  4. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 92
  5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 652
  6. ^ 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. 2, 8
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. miercuri
  8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 746
  10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 398
  11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 73
  12. ^ 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. miercuri

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

“Miercuri.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/miercuri. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·