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nesfârșit

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word nesfârșit

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1500s a 16th-century text in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origin
Old Church Slavonic съврьшити
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Romanian sfârși
Romanian sfârșit
Romanian nesfârșit

Forms

nesfârșit m or n (feminine singular nesfârșită, masculine plural nesfârșiți, feminine/neuter plural nesfârșite)[1] Old texts also have nesvârșit: a text of 1669 in Gaster's chrestomathy prays that God give the dead man rest „pururea și întru veacii nesvărșiți” “for ever and unto endless ages”.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ne- + sfârșit, the negative of the participle sfârșit “finished”.[4][3][2][5][1] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of sfârși, which he takes from Old Church Slavonic съврьшити (sŭvrĭšiti);[6][1] Wiktionary takes the verb from Bulgarian свърша (svărša), from the same Old Church Slavonic verb.[6][1] The noun is the same formation used as a substantive.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and the DLR date the first record to about 1550, în vecu nesfărșitu “in the endless age”, in a text printed in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni.[5][2] MDA2 begins with Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581, which speaks of the endless and blessed kingdom of God and of the endless torment of sinners.[3][2] The sense was “endless, eternal”, the opposite of sfârșit “finished”, and Tiktin also gives “unfinished”.[5]

Semantic evolution

In the old religious texts the adjective qualifies eternity, joy and the torments of hell: bucurie nesfărșită “endless joy” (1600), nesfârșita muncă “the endless torment” (1652).[2] From “endless” it developed a superlative sense, “very great, very wide, very numerous”, and an adverbial use with de, nesfârșit de fericit “infinitely happy”.[4][7] The noun “infinity, boundlessness” and the phrase la nesfârșit “endlessly” are recorded from Conta on.[2][3][5] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 glosses the adjective with Latin infinitus.[8]

Timeline

  • 16th century – în vecu nesfărșitu in a text of the Cuvente den bătrâni, the first record.[5][2]
  • 1581 – in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.[3][2]
  • 1600 – bucurie nesfărșită “endless joy”.[2]
  • 1643 – dănțuire nesfărșită “endless dancing” in Varlaam.[2]
  • 1669 – the variant nesvărșiți.[2]
  • 1688 – nesfârșit and nesfârșită in the Wisdom of Solomon of the Bucharest Bible.[9]
  • 1825 – glossed “infinite” in the Lexicon de la Buda.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. endless, infinite: having no limits in time or space, never ceasing or running out; eternal: o câmpie nesfârșită.[4][3][1]
  2. Very great, very wide, very numerous or very intense: răbdare nesfârșită.[4][3]
  3. (adverbial, with de) Extremely: nesfârșit de trist.[4][7]

Noun

  1. That which has (or seems to have) no limit in space or time; infinity, nemărginire: nesfârșitul mării.[4][3]
  2. eternity.[4][3]

Usage notes

La nesfârșit means “endlessly, without a break”: a repeta la nesfârșit.[4][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nesfârșit
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 144
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 712
  5. ^ 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. nesfârșit
  6. ^ a b 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. sfârși
  7. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 202
  8. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 441
  9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Wisdom 7:14
Cite this entry

“Nesfârșit.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/nesf%C3%A2r%C8%99it. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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