Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word rută

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1955–1957 DLRLC More words from the 20th century
Borrowed from
French route
Ultimate origin
Latin rumpō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French route
Italian rotta
Romanian rută
From the same root
French routine ← route

Pronunciation

Forms

rută f (plural rute)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French route (“road, way”), a neologism.[2][3][4][1] The DLR, NODEX and MDA2 add a second source, borrowed from German Rutte.[5][6][7] The French word continues Vulgar Latin *rupta, the noun use of a phrase with via (“way”), “a way broken open”, from the past participle of rumpō (“to break”).[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DLRLC lists the word in the 1950s, and the DLR quotes it from the newspaper Scînteia of 1960, of an air route from Bucharest to Warsaw.[9][5]

Timeline

  • 1955–1957 – listed in the DLRLC.[9]
  • 1960 – a quotation in Scînteia.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A route: the way followed by a vehicle; the line of a means of transport between two places.[2][5][1]
  2. direction.[5][4]
  • rutier
  • rutină

Usage notes

A separate rută (DEX rută²) is the plant rue (Ruta graveolens), also called virnanț.[2][1] Tiktin's first record of the plant name is the New Testament of 1648: „zeciuiți minta și ruta” “you tithe mint and rue” (Luke 11:42).[10][11] DEX derives it from Latin rūta, and Ciorănescu calls it a learned borrowing of the 17th century, neither inherited nor taken from Slavonic or Hungarian.[2][12] Tamás instead takes it as a wandering plant name that came into Romanian mainly from Hungarian, where Drăganu had thought of rutafű.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 968
  3. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. rută
  4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. rută
  5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rută
  6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. rută
  7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 740
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. route
  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, 792
  10. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. rută
  11. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 252
  12. ^ 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. rută
  13. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 679

Related etymologies

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

“Rută.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/rut%C4%83. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·