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prinde

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word prinde

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1500–1520 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki More words from the 15th century
Inherited from
Latin prendo
Ultimate origin
Latin prehendō
Derivations

Forms

prinde (third-person singular present prinde, past participle prins, third-person subjunctive prindă) 3rd conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prēndō (“to take, seize”), the contracted form of prehendō.[2][3][4][5][1] Candrea and Densusianu note that the contraction is early, and that the ⟨n⟩ before ⟨s⟩ of the past tense and participle prins was restored from the other forms.[5] Wiktionary analyses the full form as prae- and an unattested *hendō from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed-.[1]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian prindu, Megleno-Romanian prind and Istro-Romanian prind.[2][6][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian prendere, Occitan prenre, French prendre, Spanish prender and Portuguese prender.[2][8] The compounds aprinde, cuprinde and deprinde share its Latin root.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, which has prinde, prindeți and prinseră.[9][10] MDA2 dates its first record to a document of before 1521 printed in the Hurmuzaki collection,[3] and Tiktin cites the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 39:13).[11]

Semantic evolution

From “to seize, grasp” the verb spread to catching a fleeing man or animal, surprising someone, perceiving with the senses or the mind, fastening and hooking, and to “begin” and “obtain”.[4][2] Of a plant it means to take root, of milk to curdle, of water to freeze.[2][4] Reflexive senses include “to bet” and “to bind oneself”, as in a se prinde chezaș “to stand surety”.[4][2] In Aromanian the verb means above all “to understand” and “to suit”.[6]

Derivatives include prinsoare “prison; bet”, prinzătoare “trap”, desprinde “to detach” and împrinde;[9][10] surprinde is a calque of French surprendre, and surpriză is a loan of French surprise.[2]

Timeline

  • early 16th century – prinde, prindeți and prinseră in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.[9][10]
  • before 1521 – in a document printed in the Hurmuzaki collection.[3]
  • c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 39:13).[11]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To seize, grasp or hold someone or something with the hand, the teeth, the claws or a tool.[4][3][1]
  2. To catch up with and capture someone or something that runs away; to catch someone in the act.[4]
  3. (figurative) To perceive or grasp with the eyes, ears or mind;[4] a prinde de veste “to get wind of something”.[4]
  4. To fasten something by tying, sewing or hooking it; reflexive, to stay caught or stuck.[4][11]
  5. Reflexive: to join, to bind oneself to something, to bet;[4] a se prinde chezaș “to stand surety”.[4]
  6. To suit, to become someone.[4]
  7. To begin; reflexive, to set about a task.[4]
  8. To obtain or gain; of a plant, to take root;[4] a prinde rădăcini “to take root”.[4]
  9. Reflexive, of milk and other liquids: to curdle, set.[4][2]

Word family

  • prins
  • prinsoare
  • desprinde
  • prinzător
  • prinzătoare
  • împrinde
  • prindere
  • surprinde

Usage notes

Popular speech has a first person prinz beside prind, and the simple past is prinsei.[4][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. prinde
  3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 543
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 876
  5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 1447
  6. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
  7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6736
  9. ^ a b c 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 2:12
  10. ^ a b c 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 72:5
  11. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. prinde

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

“Prinde.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/prinde. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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