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privință

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word privință

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1846 Curierul românesc More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origin
Romanian privi
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Romanian privi
Romanian privință
From the same root
Romanian privire ← privi

Forms

privință f (plural privințe)[1] The old plural was privinți: Creangă writes „în multe privinți” “in many respects”.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian privi + -ință, from the verb “to look at; to concern”.[3][4][5][1] The origin of the verb itself is uncertain.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 date the first record to 1846, in the newspaper Curierul românesc.[5][3] The DLR quotes it there in the sense “view, opinion”: „Unii vor fi având poate niște privințe greșite asupra cestiunei sistemei protectoare” “some may perhaps have mistaken views on the question of the protective system”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Beside “view, point of view” the word had the literal sense “a look, the act of looking”, still found in Pann and in folk verse and now regional.[2][7] MDA2 also records the rare senses “thought” and “intention”.[3]

Today it is used almost only in set phrases: în această privință “in this respect”, într-o privință “in one respect”, în multe privințe “in many respects” and the preposition în privința “concerning, with regard to”.[4][3][2] Tiktin quotes Hasdeu comparing the club and the bow: the club was, în privința arcului, what the bayonet is to the gun.[5] An old phrase was a lua în privință “to take into consideration”.[3]

Timeline

  • 1846 – privințe “views” in Curierul românesc, the first record.[5][3][2]
  • 1848 – din altă privință “from another point of view” in the same newspaper.[2]
  • 19th century – the plural privinți in Creangă.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (in adverbial phrases) respect, point of view: într-o privință “in one respect”, în această privință “in this respect”, în toate privințele “in every respect”.[4][8]
  2. (in the prepositional phrase în privința) concerning, with regard to, as for.[4][3]
  3. (regional) A look, the act of looking; the field of vision.[3][2]

Usage notes

MDA2 has a separate regional privință, a popular form of prevenție “pretrial detention”; the Muntenia glossary records it in the phrase “to stay in detention for months before trial”.[3][9]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. privință
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 553
  4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 878
  5. ^ 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. privință
  6. ^ 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. privi
  7. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 584
  8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. privință
  9. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 347
Cite this entry

“Privință.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/privin%C8%9B%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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