Etymologically

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
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ferō
Latin referō
Italian riferire
Spanish referir
Romanian referi
Romanian referitor
From the same root
Latin afferō ← ferō
Latin anteferō ← ferō
Latin auferō ← ferō
Latin circumferō ← ferō
Latin cōnferō ← ferō
Latin dēferō ← ferō
Latin differō ← ferō
Latin efferō ← ferō
Latin ferāx ← ferō
Latin ferculum ← ferō
Latin ferentārius ← ferō
Latin fertilis ← ferō
Latin īnferō ← ferō
Latin intrōferō ← ferō
Latin lātiō ← ferō
Latin lātor ← ferō
Latin offerō ← ferō
Latin perferō ← ferō
Latin praeferō ← ferō
Latin prōferō ← ferō
Latin sufferō ← ferō
Latin trānsferō ← ferō
Latin vōciferor ← ferō
Romanian prefera ← ferō
Latin relātīvus ← referō
Latin relātum ← referō
Latin relātus ← referō

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

  1. Followed by la: relating to, concerning something or someone: o lege referitoare la protecția mediului.[3][2][1]
  2. referitor la (prepositional phrase): regarding, about, in connection with: Referitor la cererea dumneavoastră, vă răspundem în scris.[3][2]
  • privitor

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 934
  4. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. referitor
  5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. referitor
  6. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1110
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 541
  9. ^ 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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