Etymology and origin of the Romanian word par
par1 stake, pole
Etymology tree of par1
Forms
par m (plural pari)[1]
Etymology
The word for the stake is inherited from Latin pālus (“stake”).[2][3][4][5][6][1] The Latin word comes from Proto-Italic *pākslos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-slos, a derivative of *peh₂ǵ- (“to attach, fix”).[1]
It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian par and Megleno-Romanian par.[2][7][8] The Romance cognates are Italian palo, Spanish palo, French pieu, Catalan pal and Portuguese pau.[2][6] Ciorănescu also compares Albanian palë and Modern Greek παλούκι (paloúki).[2]
The verb împăra “to drive stakes; to impale” is a Romanian derivative for Ciorănescu, while Candrea and Densusianu and the DA take it directly from Latin impālō.[2][5]
Earliest recorded meaning
MDA2 dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.[3] Tiktin's first date is 1533, from a document.[9] The sense was the one it still has: a pole or stake.[3][9]
Semantic evolution
Beside the stake driven into the ground the word means a stout stick used as a lever or a club, and in some places a thick branch of a tree.[10][3] The club sense gave the adverbial phrase cu parul “by force”.[10]
A bate pari is to drive in stakes, and a pune cuiva parul la ușă meant to put a person's goods under distraint.[9] Cât cioara-n par means only a moment, as long as a crow sits on a stake.[9] A i se apropia funia de par, “the rope nears the stake”, is said of an old person close to death or of a deadline that is near.[10]
Tiktin and Cihac list the diminutives părușor, păruș, părușteț and păruleț.[9][11]
Timeline
- early 16th century – the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.[3]
- 1533 – a document, Tiktin's first date.[9]
- 1870 – Cihac lists the diminutives părișor, păruș, părușteț and păruț.[11]
Meanings
Noun
- A stake or pole: a long, fairly thick piece of wood, usually sharpened, used to support or fix something.[10][1]
- A stout stick used as a lever or a club: cu parul “by force”.[10][12]
- A thick branch of a tree;[10] par de oale, a pole with stubs on which pots are hung to dry.[10]
Word family
- împăra
- părișor
- păruleț
- păruș
- părușor
- părușteț
par2 even (number)
Etymology tree of par2
From the same root · par2
Forms
par m or n (feminine singular pară, masculine plural pari, feminine/neuter plural pare)[1]
Etymology
The word for “even” is borrowed from Latin pār (“equal, matching”), a learned loan of the 20th century.[10][13][14][3][15][1] The dictionaries name Latin as the only source.[10][13][12] The origin of the long vowel of the Latin adjective is disputed.[16]
Earliest recorded meaning
MDA2's first record is the Lexiconul tehnic român of 1957, in the mathematical sense “divisible by two”.[3] The DLR also cites it from the technical lexicon.[15]
Semantic evolution
It is a technical word of mathematics: an even integer or power is one divisible by two.[10][14] An even function is one whose value does not change when the sign of its argument changes.[14][13]
Timeline
- 1957 – the Lexiconul tehnic român, the first record.[3]
Meanings
Adjective
Related words
Usage notes
The two words differ in their plurals: the noun has pari, the adjective pari, pare.[10] DEX numbers the stake par¹ and the adjective par².[10] The verb form par “I seem” of părea is a separate word,[17] and so is par, an old form of pahar “glass”.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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. par
- ^ 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, 261
- ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 110
- ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. par
- ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6182
- ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 815
- ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 214
- ^ 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. par
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 771
- ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 193
- ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. par
- ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. par
- ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. par
- ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. par
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 82:12
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Par.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/par. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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