Etymology and origin of the Romanian word referitor
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1886 Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary More words from the 19th century
- Ultimate origins
- French référerRomanian -tor
Etymology tree
From the same root
Forms
referitor m or n (feminine singular referitoare, masculine plural referitori, feminine/neuter plural referitoare)[1]
Etymology
It is formed from Romanian referi + -tor, from the verb “to refer” with the suffix of agent nouns and adjectives.[2][3][4][5][1] Scriban too derived it from the verb.[6]
Earliest recorded meaning
Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary of 1886 glosses it with German bezüglich “relating to”.[7] MDA2's first record is Șăineanu's dictionary of 1896, which defines it as “referring to, relative to”.[2][8]
Semantic evolution
Scriban still marked it as rare in 1939.[6] It is now common, above all in the prepositional phrase referitor la “concerning, regarding”; the DLR quotes it from Preda and the press of the 1960s.[4][9]
Timeline
- 1886 – in Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary.[7]
- 1896 – in Șăineanu's dictionary.[2]
- 1939 – Scriban marks it as rare.[6]
- 1955–1957 – the DLRLC records the phrase referitor la.[9]
Meanings
Adjective
- Followed by la: relating to, concerning something or someone: o lege referitoare la protecția mediului.[3][2][1]
- referitor la (prepositional phrase): regarding, about, in connection with: Referitor la cererea dumneavoastră, vă răspundem în scris.[3][2]
Related words
- privitor
References
- ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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, 676
- ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 934
- ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. referitor
- ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. referitor
- ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1110
- ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 534
- ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 541
- ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 709
Cite this entry
“Referitor.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/referitor. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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