Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word rezultat

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1814 More words from the 19th century
Borrowed from
French résultat
Ultimate origin
Latin resultō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French résultat
Romanian rezultat

Pronunciation

  • /re.zulˈtat/[1]

Forms

rezultat n (plural rezultate or rezultaturi)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French résultat (“result”), borrowed from German Resultat, a neologism of the early 19th century.[2][3][4][5][6][1] DN gives only the French source, and Scriban derives the French word from Medieval Latin.[7][8] The French word is a learned borrowing of Medieval Latin resultātum, the noun use of the neuter past participle of resultō.[1] German took the word from French about 1700.[9] In scholastic philosophy the Medieval Latin verb meant “to follow from”, a sense developed from classical Latin resultō (“to spring back, rebound”).[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1814.[4] MDA2's first record is from 1829, in Albina românească, where a school promises fericite rezultaturi seau bune urmări “happy results or good consequences”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The old plural was rezultaturi, usual in the 1830s and 1840s (rezultaturi statistice 1836), beside the modern rezultate.[5][3] Writers of the mid-19th century, among them Bălcescu, Negruzzi and Maiorescu, spelled it resultat.[5] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 explains resultat as what follows from a debate or an event: an outcome, a consequence, a conclusion.[11] Two common phrases are fără rezultat “in vain” and a da rezultat(e) “to bring the desired effect”.[2][12] In the plural it also means concrete achievements.[3] Sports writing has the compound rezultat-surpriză “surprise result” (from 1970).[13]

Timeline

  • 1814 – the first record Tiktin cites.[4]
  • 1829 – rezultaturi in Albina românească.[3][5]
  • 1836 – rezultaturi statistice “statistical results”.[5]
  • 1848 – resultat in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.[11]
  • 1970 – rezultat-surpriză in the sports press.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A result, outcome or consequence of an action, a fact or a calculation: Rezultatul alegerilor a fost anunțat aseară.[2][1]
  2. (in the plural) Concrete achievements: o echipă cu rezultate bune.[3]
  3. (mathematics) The number obtained by a series of arithmetic operations.[2][7]

Usage notes

Wikționar also treats rezultat as the participle of the verb rezulta.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 954
  3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 707
  4. ^ 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. rezultat
  5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rezultat
  6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. rezultat
  7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. rezultat
  8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1127
  9. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  10. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
  11. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. 349
  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. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. rezultat
  14. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org

Related etymologies

  • casă · also from German
  • pas · also from German
  • lac · also from German
  • rută · also from German
  • arie · also from German
  • laț · also from German
  • must · also from German
  • telefon · also from German
Cite this entry

“Rezultat.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/rezultat. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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