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prizonier

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word prizonier

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1787 More words from the 18th century
Borrowed from
French prisonnier
Ultimate origin
Latin prehendō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin prehendō
French prendre
Italian prendere
Latin prehēnsiō
French prison
French prisonnier
Romanian prizonier
Spanish prisión
The word's journey
From the same root
Latin apprehendō ← prehendō
Latin comprehendō ← prehendō
Latin dēprehendō ← prehendō
Latin praeda ← prehendō
Latin prēnsō ← prehendō
Latin reprehendō ← prehendō
Latin superprehendō ← prehendō
French surprendre ← prendre
Italian sorpresa ← prendere
Latin prēnsiō ← prehēnsiō
Spanish prisionero ← prisión

Forms

prizonier m (plural prizonieri)[1] In the 19th century the word was also spelled prisonier: Heliade wrote of the Count O'Reilly that „pe el era p-aci să-l ia prisonier” “he himself was nearly taken prisoner”.[2] Popular and regional variants include prizoner, prinsoner, prinzoner and prizioner.[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French prisonnier (“prisoner”), as all the dictionaries agree.[3][4][5][6][7][1] The French word is formed on prison (“prison”) with the suffix -ier.[1][8] Graur places it in the family of Latin prehendō (“to seize”), the source of prinde, priză and surpriză in Romanian.[9]

The forms with ⟨prins-⟩ and ⟨prinz-⟩ come from the influence of prins and of the old and regional present tense of the verb, which also had /nz/.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1787.[5] MDA2 and DLR start from a periodical of 1829, which reported that some 6,000 Turkish soldiers, „prizonieri sloboziți din Rossia” “prisoners released from Russia”, had passed through the capital.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a soldier taken by the enemy in war, often with the verbs a lua “to take”, a face “to make” and a cădea “to fall”: a cădea prizonier “to be taken prisoner”.[2][3] It also came to mean any person held in the power of an enemy, a bandit or a kidnapper, and a person under arrest.[2][10]

Figurative uses followed: a person deprived of freedom, and in DEX 2009 also a person possessed by a thought or an idea.[4][11] In engineering, șurub prizonier is a stud bolt threaded at both ends.[3][12]

Timeline

  • 1787 – the first record according to Tiktin.[5]
  • 1829 – prizonieri “prisoners” of war in a periodical, MDA2's first record.[3][2]
  • 1854 – the spelling prisonier in a newspaper.[2]
  • 1929 – Șăineanu gives both the captive of war and the arrested person.[10]
  • 2009 – DEX adds the figurative person obsessed by an idea.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A prisoner of war: a soldier captured by the enemy and held so that he cannot fight again; by extension, anyone fallen into the hands of an enemy, a captive: Mii de soldați au căzut prizonieri.[4][3]
  2. A person under arrest or in prison, a detainee.[4][13]
  3. (figurative) A person deprived of freedom, or held by an obsession: prizonierul propriilor amintiri.[4]
  4. (engineering) In șurub prizonier: a stud bolt, threaded at both ends.[4][3]

Usage notes

The feminine is prizonieră;[2] DLR notes that it is rare.[2] The word is pronounced with the i and e in separate syllables, -ni-er.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. prizonier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 554
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 878
  5. ^ 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. prizonier
  6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
  7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
  8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1055
  9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
  10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 514
  11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 585
  12. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
  13. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. prizonier

Related etymologies

  • cap · also from French
  • dura · also from French
  • pur · also from French
  • pană · also from French
  • pat · also from French
  • masă · also from French
  • lac · also from French
  • primar · also from French
Cite this entry

“Prizonier.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/prizonier. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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