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răsură

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word răsură

răsură1 scraping, shaving

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1800–1812 Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada
Ultimate origins
Proto-Italic *rasd-e/o-Romanian -ură
Etymology tree of răsură1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rādō
Italian radere
Romanian rade
Romanian răsură
From the same root · răsură1
Latin abrādō ← rādō
Latin corrādō ← rādō
Latin ērādō ← rādō
Latin rāsōrium ← rādō
Latin rāstrum ← rādō
Latin rāsus ← rādō

Forms

răsură f (plural răsuri)[1]

Etymology

The word for scraping is formed from Romanian rade + -ură, a noun of action and result on the verb.[2][3][4] DEX 2009 gives its base as the participle ras with the same suffix.[5] Wiktionary and Scriban allow a direct continuation of Latin rāsūra (“a scraping, a shaving”), itself formed on rādō (“to scrape, shave”);[1][6][7] the REW lists the Romanian word among the descendants of the Latin noun, beside Italian rasura, French rasure, Spanish rasura and Portuguese rasura.[8] Tiktin also derives it from the participle, and puts the surtax sense under the same entry (see răsură3).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DLR's earliest dated quotation of the scraping sense is in Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada (c. 1800–1812), an erasure on a manuscript page.[3] MDA2 gives as its first record the Calendariu of 1814, where răsuri are iron filings ground fine or rasped off with a file.[2][3] DLRLV, the dictionary of the regional words of the old literary language (1640–1780), already has the word from an Oltenian text: răsuri de dinți dă fildeș “ivory shavings”.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the act of scraping the word came to name what is scraped off (filings, shavings) and the mark left by scraping out writing on paper: Budai-Deleanu remarks of a manuscript that „se vede acolo o răsură” “an erasure can be seen there”.[3][2] Regionally it names the scraps of dough scraped from the kneading trough and the bread baked from them, the same as răsunoi, and in the plural the lumps of cheese that form in whey.[3][2][10] Tiktin also records the plural răsuri for the pains after childbirth: „durerile pântecelui lehuzii ce se numesc răsuri” “the belly pains of a woman after childbirth, which are called răsuri”.[9] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 still glosses răssură as the act of shaving and its result, French rasure.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 1800–1812 – răsură “erasure” in Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada.[3]
  • 1814 – răsuri “iron filings” in the Calendariu, MDA2's first record.[2][3]
  • 1825 – răsură “scraping” and “bread of trough scrapings” in the Lexicon de la Buda.[10]
  • 1857 – the derivative răsunoi, in Polizu's vocabulary.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (rare) A scraping: the act of scraping and its result.[5][2]
  2. (dated) filings, shavings scraped or filed off a material.[2][3]
  3. An erasure made with a blade on paper, and the mark it leaves.[2][3]
  4. (regional) Bread baked from the dough scraped from the kneading trough; răsunoi.[2][3]
  5. (regional, in the plural) Lumps of cheese that form in whey.[2][3]
  6. (regional, in the plural) The pains a woman feels after childbirth.[9][12]

Word family

  • răsunoi

răsură2 dog rose

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
1635 a charter published in DRH B XXV

Forms

răsură f (plural răsuri)[1]

Etymology

The word for the wild rose is of unknown origin to Tiktin, DLR, MDA2, DEX 2009 and NODEX.[9][3][2][5][12] Wiktionary derives it either from the same root as răsură1 or from Latin rosula (“little rose”), the diminutive of rosa (“rose”);[1] Wikționar thinks the Latin diminutive more likely.[13] Scriban and Șăineanu compared the Latin diminutive too;[6][14] Scriban had to assume an intermediate form with an unexplained shift of the stress.[6][14] Ungureanu compares Lombard rosorina, in Bonvesin's poem on the dispute of the rose and the violet.[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1635, in a charter published in DRH B XXV.[9] MDA2's first record is later, in I. Văcărescu's collected poems printed in 1848, where echoes ring „prin răsuri”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word names two wild roses, the dog rose (Rosa canina) and the French rose (Rosa gallica), and the flower of the dog rose.[3][2][16] The red flower gave a figure for flushed cheeks: Delavrancea's heroine has „două răsuri pe obraji” “two roses on her cheeks”.[3][17] On the Danube the name passed to the mayfly and its larvae, which fishermen seek out.[3][5] Folk poetry uses it in the refrain Frunză verde de răsură.[3]

Timeline

  • 1635 – first record, in a charter (DRH B XXV).[9]
  • 1848 – răsuri “wild roses” in I. Văcărescu's collected poems.[2][3]
  • 1929 – Panțu's plant dictionary gives răsură for the flowers of Rosa canina and for Rosa pumila.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (botany) The dog rose (Rosa canina); măceș.[5][2][3]
  2. (botany) A wild rose with many uneven thorns and large purple flowers (Rosa gallica).[2][3]
  3. The flower of the dog rose.[2][3]
  4. (entomology) The larva of the mayfly; the mayfly itself (Ephemera vulgata).[5][2][3]

răsură3 additional tax

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1696 a document in Iorga's Studii și documente
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic *rasd-e/o-
Etymology tree of răsură3
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rādō
Italian radere
Romanian rade
Romanian răsură
From the same root · răsură3
Latin abrādō ← rādō
Latin corrādō ← rādō
Latin ērādō ← rādō
Latin rāsōrium ← rādō
Latin rāstrum ← rādō
Latin rāsus ← rādō

Forms

răsură f (plural răsuri)[3]

Etymology

The word for the surtax is of unknown origin to DLR, DLRLV, MDA2 and NODEX;[3][4][2][12] DLR compares răsurăl, DLRLV and MDA2 compare răsură1.[3][4][2][12] DEX 2009 compares the verb, and Tiktin derives it from Romanian rade through its participle, under one entry with the scraping sense.[5][9] Scriban also puts it with the scraping word, which he takes from Latin rāsūra.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are from 1696, in a document published by Iorga, which counts răsuri of two bani on each gold ducat.[3][9] MDA2 gives Neculce's chronicle (c. 1743) as its first record: there the officials chose to take a răsură half as large again as their colleagues' share.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The răsură was an additional quota on the taxes of the Romanian Principalities in the 18th and 19th centuries, from which the officials and the prince's retinue were paid.[5][18][2] Documents of 1714, 1737, 1781 and 1802 fix it at so many parale on each coin of the tax; a decree of 1814 still orders it, at eight parale to the leu, for the salaries.[3][9] The office that collected it and paid the salaries was the casa răsurilor.[9][6] In Transylvania răsura limbii “the tongue's surtax” was a fine paid for slander.[3][2]

Timeline

  • 1696 – răsuri on the gold ducat, in a document published by Iorga.[3][9]
  • 1714 – răsuri of three parale, two for the treasury and one for the collectors.[3]
  • c. 1743 – răsura in Neculce's chronicle, MDA2's first record.[2][3]
  • 1802 – the money of the răsuri, set aside for the salaries, in Uricariul.[3]
  • 1814 – a decree orders răsură of eight parale to the leu.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (historical) An additional tax levied on top of the regular taxes in Wallachia and Moldavia in the 18th and 19th centuries to pay the officials and the prince's retinue.[5][2][3]
  2. (historical, Transylvania; in the phrase răsura limbii) A fine paid for slandering someone.[2][3]
  • Latin rāsūra

Usage notes

DEX 2009 numbers the three words as here.[5] NODEX puts the afterpains sense with the wild-rose word, and Tiktin puts the mayfly larvae and the surtax with the scraping word.[12][9] A fourth, regional răsură “thought” occurs only in a-și lua răsura “to give up the idea”, from Rădăuți;[3][2] DLR and MDA2 call it of unknown origin.[3][2] A proverb plays on the masculine variant răsur: Nu e răsur să n-aibă cusur “there is no rose without a flaw”.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 646
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. răsură
  4. ^ a b c d e Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 248
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 919
  6. ^ a b c d e Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1099
  7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. răsură
  10. ^ a b 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.)
  11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci
  12. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. răsură
  13. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
  14. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 536
  15. ^ Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier
  16. ^ a b Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor
  17. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
  18. ^ Constantinescu, Grigore; Constantinescu, Eugenia (2014), Glosar. Arealul etnocultural Argeș-Muscel
Cite this entry

“Răsură.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/r%C4%83sur%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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