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nevastă

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word nevastă

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1551–1553 the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of Sibiu More words from the 16th century
Borrowed from
Old Church Slavonic невѣста
Ultimate origin
Proto-Slavic *nevěsta

Pronunciation

  • /neˈva.stə/[1]

Forms

nevastă f (plural neveste)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic невѣста (nevěsta, “bride”).[2][3][4][5][1] Ciorănescu follows Miklosich and Cihac and lists the cognates Bulgarian невеста (nevesta), Russian невеста (nevesta), Serbo-Croatian nevjesta and Polish niewiasta.[2] The Slavonic word continues *nevěsta (“bride”).[1][6] Wiktionary analyses it as *ne- and *věděti;[1][7] Vasmer discusses the explanations at length.[1][7]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian nveastă and Megleno-Romanian niveastă.[2][8][9] Ciorănescu notes that the word is used everywhere in Daco-Romanian.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of Sibiu (1551–1553), in Matthew 10:35.[10] MDA2 dates it to Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură of 1581, where the church is the bride of God: „nevasta beseareca lu Dumnezeu”.[3][5] The sense in these texts is “bride, betrothed”, as in Slavonic.[10][4]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “bride” lives on in Transylvania in nevastă nouă, and Aromanian has the same phrase.[10][5] Varlaam's Cazania (1643) still uses it for the bride beside her groom, and the Îndreptarea legii (1652) calls a nun nevasta lui Dumnezeu “the bride of God”.[5][10]

From “bride” the word passed to a newly married woman, to any married woman as against a girl (nici cu fetele, nici cu nevestele “neither with the girls nor with the wives”), to a man's wife (nevastă-mea “my wife”), and in popular speech to a woman in general and a form of address.[5][3][10] With the article, nevasta also names a folk dance and its tune.[3]

The derivative nevăstuică “weasel” is a superstitious euphemism, “little bride”, with parallels in Slavonic, Bulgarian, Greek and the Romance languages.[2]

Timeline

  • 1551–1553 – the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of Sibiu, the first record.[10]
  • 1581 – nevasta “the bride” in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.[3][5]
  • 1643 – Varlaam's Cazania: mire and nevastă.[5]
  • 1688 – ca pre o nevastă “as a bride” in the Bucharest Bible (Isaiah 61:10).[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A married woman.[4][3]
  2. A man's wife: Și-a adus nevasta la petrecere.[4][1]
  3. (popular) A woman in general; also used to address a married woman.[4][3]
  4. (dated, regional, in nevastă nouă) A bride, a newly married woman.[3][5][1]
  5. (with the article, nevasta) A folk dance and its tune.[3]

Word family

  • nevăstuică
  • nevăstuță
  • Aromanian nveastă
  • Old Church Slavonic невѣста (nevěsta)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. nevastă
  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, 150
  4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 714
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nevastă
  6. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 351
  7. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. s.v. невеста
  8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 790
  9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 207
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nevastă
  11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Isaia 61:10

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

“Nevastă.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/nevast%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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