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râs

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word râs

râs1 laughter

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1563–1583 Codicele Voronețean
Inherited from
Latin risus
Ultimate origin
Latin rīdeō
Etymology tree of râs1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rīdeō
French rire
Italian ridere
Romanian râde
Spanish reír
Latin rīsus
Italian riso
Romanian râs
From the same root · râs1
Italian arridere ← rīdeō
Latin dērīdeō ← rīdeō
Latin irrīdeō ← rīdeō
Latin rīdiculus ← rīdeō
Latin rīsibilis ← rīdeō
Latin subrīdeō ← rīdeō
Spanish risible ← rīdeō
Spanish sonreír ← rīdeō

Pronunciation

Forms

râs n (plural râsete)[1]

Etymology

The word for laughter is inherited from Latin rīsus (“laughter”).[2][3][4][5][1] The Latin noun was formed on rīdeō (“to laugh”).[6] The Romanian verb from that root is râde.[2]

It survives in Aromanian arãs.[2][7][8] The Romance cognates include Italian riso, French ris, Occitan ris, Catalan ris and Portuguese riso.[2][9] The plural ⟨râsete⟩ was taken from râset, a word of the same meaning formed on râs.[2][1] surâs “smile” was made after French sourire.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).[3] Tiktin dates its 16th-century record to the same text, at James 4:9.[5]

Semantic evolution

Besides laughter, the word has long meant “mockery, derision”.[2][3] Neculce wrote that the Turks did damage „cu fel de fel de râsuri și batjocuri” “with all kinds of mockery and abuse” to girls and married women.[5] The phrases a lua în râs and a face de râs mean “to mock”.[5][10] De râs means “ridiculous”.[4] The word is also used for the cascading call of some birds.[4][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1563-1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.[3][5]
  • 1649 – rîsul in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[11]
  • 1688 – râsul in the Bucharest Bible (Ecclesiastes 7:4).[12]
  • 1825 – râs glossed Latin risus in the Lexicon de la Buda.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. laughter, a laugh: the act of laughing and the sound it makes: Râsul copiilor se auzea din curte.[4][1]
  2. mockery, derision.[2][3]
  3. (rare) The cascading sound some birds make.[4]

Word family

  • surâs

râs2 lynx

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1619 a document cited by Tiktin
Borrowed from
Old Church Slavonic рꙑсь
Ultimate origin
Proto-Slavic *rysь

Pronunciation

Forms

râs m (plural râși)[1] Old texts also spell it ris.[3]

Etymology

The word for the lynx is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic рꙑсь (rysĭ).[2][4][3][5][1] The Old Church Slavonic word comes from Proto-Slavic *rysь.[1] Ciorănescu compares Serbo-Croatian ris, Czech rys and Polish ryś.[2] Wiktionary calls the link with the homograph meaning “laughter” a false etymology.[1]

Vasmer relates the Slavic word to Czech words for “reddish”.[14] He also allows a source *lysь, with /r/ from *rysъ (“reddish, spotted”).[14] That form would be related to Lithuanian lūšis, German Luchs and Ancient Greek λύγξ (lúnx).[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1619, in a document.[5] MDA2 gives 1658, from a document in the Uricariul collection.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word also names the animal's fur.[3][15] Odobescu lists „blănuri de jder, de râs și de samur” “furs of marten, lynx and sable”.[5] In the 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons rîs glosses Slavonic пардусъ “leopard”.[16] Tiktin records rare old forms râsop and risopol, whose origin he calls obscure.[5]

Timeline

  • 1619 – first record, in a document.[5]
  • 1658 – in a document of the Uricariul collection.[3]
  • 1660 – rîs in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. lynx (Lynx lynx): a wild feline larger than the wildcat, with reddish-yellow fur and tufts of hair on its ears.[4][1]
  2. The fur of the lynx.[3][15]

Usage notes

The two words differ in gender and plural: râs “laughter” is neuter, plural râsete or râsuri;[4][1] râs “lynx” is masculine, plural râși.[4][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. râs
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 659
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 923
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. râs
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rīsus
  7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 144
  8. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 39
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7336
  10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1132
  11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. rîsul
  12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ecclesiastes 7:4
  13. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 590
  14. ^ a b c Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
  15. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 761
  16. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. rîs

Related etymologies

  • prea · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • înșela · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • pară · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • somn · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • veste · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • coș · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • lin · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • suci · also from Old Church Slavonic
Cite this entry

“Râs.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/r%C3%A2s. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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