Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word plântă

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1683 Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților More words from the 17th century
Borrowed from
Latin planta
Ultimate origin
Latin planta
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin planta
Italian pianta
French plante
Romanian plântă
From the same root
English plant ← planta
Latin plantō ← planta
Latin supplantō ← planta

Forms

plântă f (plural plânte)[1]

Etymology

Tiktin takes it as borrowed from Latin planta (“sole of the foot”), a learned loan probably made by Dosoftei himself, and Scriban calls it probably a neologism of Dosoftei.[2][3] Ciorănescu says it could be a learned word but compares împlânta.[4] MDA2, the DLR and Wiktionary give it simply as the Latin word, and Wiktionary counts it inherited.[5][6][1] It is the doublet of plantă “plant”, borrowed from French plante.[4][1]

The Latin noun is traced to Proto-Indo-European *pléh₂-n̥t-eh₂, from *pleh₂- (“flat”).[1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *plānt-ā- and leaves the root open between “the flat one” and “the approaching one”.[7] The Latin word lives on in Romance as Italian pianta “sole of the foot”, and French has the same word for the sole as for the plant.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears only in Dosoftei's lives of the saints, printed in Iași from 1682.[5][4] In the December volume the saint's soles are left imprinted where he stood: „În loc ce stătusă au rămas tipărite plântele lui”; a gloss explains the word as palmele.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 1683 – plântele “the soles” in Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților.[2][5]
  • 1939 – Scriban records it as an old word for the sole.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (archaic, rare) The sole of the foot.[4][2][1][10]

Usage notes

MDA2 and the DLR also list plântă as an old variant of plantă “plant”.[5][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. plântă
  3. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 999
  4. ^ a b c d 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. plîntă
  5. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 414
  6. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. plântă
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6576
  9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. plântă
  11. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. plantă

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

“Plântă.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/pl%C3%A2nt%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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