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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word sol

sol1 musical note (DEX sol¹)

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1839 Vallian's vocabulary
Borrowed from
Italian sol
Ultimate origin
Latin solvō

Forms

sol m (invariable)[1]

Etymology

The word for the musical note is borrowed from Italian sol, with French sol as a second model.[1][2][3] The Italian name is the first syllable of Latin solve (“loosen, free”), the word that opens a half-line of the Latin hymn to Saint John the Baptist whose syllables gave the names of the notes.[4][5][6] Scriban gives the same explanation.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Vallian's Romanian–French vocabulary of 1839.[2] The DLR quotes Filimon on a violinist who played the hardest passages on the G string alone, pe coarda de sol.[3]

Timeline

  • 1839 – in Vallian's vocabulary, the first record.[2]
  • 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary defines solŭ as a musical note.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (music) the note G, the fifth note of the scale of C major; the sound and the written note.[1][2]
  2. The name of a clef: cheia sol, the treble clef.[1][3]

sol2 messenger, envoy (DEX sol²)

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1563 Coresi's Praxiu
Borrowed from
Old Church Slavonic сълъ
Ultimate origin
Proto-Slavic *sъlъ

Forms

sol m (plural soli)[6] A regional variant is stol.[9][2]

Etymology

The word for the messenger is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic сълъ (sŭlŭ, “messenger, envoy”).[10][9][7] Ciorănescu and DEX also cite the form солъ (solŭ), which MDA2 gives as the source.[10][1][2] Tiktin compares the vowel of Russian посол (posol, “ambassador”).[9]

The Slavonic word continues Proto-Slavic *sъlъ (“messenger”), formed on *sъlati (“to send”).[6][11] Cognates include Old East Slavic сълъ (sŭlŭ, “ambassador”) and Slovene sel.[12][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1563, in Coresi's Praxiu.[9] The Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582) has „Iacob iară sol tremease înaintea lui la Isav, frate-său” “and Jacob sent a messenger before him to Esau his brother” (Genesis 32:3).[9][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word was common in the chronicles and in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicons, which give it for Slavonic words for “messenger” and “apostle”.[13] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses the plural soli 38 times.[14] Its central sense was the envoy sent to negotiate for a ruler or a country, and DEX marks it as a word of the Middle Ages.[1][2]

Later senses widen it to any herald or bearer of news, and figuratively to a representative of a class or a school.[1][2] At village weddings the sol was the young man the groom sent ahead to announce his coming.[1] In Maramureș sol la Dietă meant a deputy to the Diet,[15] and prison slang uses sol for an accomplice.[16]

Timeline

  • 1563 – sol in Coresi's Praxiu, the first record.[9]
  • 1581–1582 – sol “messenger” in the Palia de la Orăștie.[9][2]
  • 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[13]
  • 1688 – soli “envoys” in the Bucharest Bible.[14]
  • 1801 – Sol, Latin legatus, in Klein's dictionary.[17]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person sent on a mission; especially an envoy sent to negotiate for a country or a ruler, in the Middle Ages.[1][2]
  2. A herald, a bearer of news.[1][2]
  3. At village weddings, the young man the groom sends ahead to announce his arrival.[1][2]
  4. (figurative) A representative of a class, a school or a movement.[2]
  5. (slang) An accomplice.[16]

Word family

  • soli
  • solie
  • solitor

sol3 soil, ground (DEX sol⁵)

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
Codru-Drăgușanu
Borrowed from
French sol
Ultimate origin
Latin solum
Etymology tree of sol3
inherited borrowed derived
Latin sōlus
French seul
Italian solo
English solo
Spanish solo
Latin sōlum
Italian suolo
Spanish suelo
French sol
Romanian sol
The journey of sol3
From the same root · sol3
Latin dēsōlō ← sōlus
Latin sōlitās ← sōlus
Latin sōlitūdō ← sōlus
Latin sōlō ← sōlus
French seulement ← seul
English soloist ← solo
Italian solamente ← solo
Italian soltanto ← solo
Latin sōlārium ← sōlum
Latin solea ← sōlum

Forms

sol n (plural soluri)[6]

Etymology

The word for the soil is borrowed from French sol, with Latin solum (“base, bottom; ground, soil”) as a second model.[2][3][7][6] Ciorănescu gives French alone.[10] French borrowed the noun from Latin in 1538, after the older forms suel and soul.[18] The Latin noun comes from Proto-Indo-European *solom (“place, habitation”), or a form with *e; its cognates include Old Church Slavonic село (selo, “field, village”) and Lithuanian salà (“island”).[19][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Codru-Drăgușanu: „Vărsai un șiroi de lacrămi pe solul patriei” “I shed a stream of tears on the soil of my homeland”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The DLR's early quotations are from agriculture, on the nature and fertility of the soil.[3] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 defines it as earth considered for its quality, and as the surface on which one builds.[20] The derivative subsol “subsoil; basement” follows French sous-sol.[10] In gymnastics exercițiu la sol is the floor exercise.[2]

Timeline

  • 1862 – listed in Pontbriant's dictionary.[3]
  • 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary defines solŭ as earth judged by its quality.[20]

Meanings

Noun

  1. soil: the loose, soft layer at the surface of the Earth's crust in which plants grow; by extension, the ground, land: Solul de aici este nisipos. “The soil here is sandy.”[2][21]
  2. (chiefly plural) land considered for its fertility or shape; a plot of farmland.[2]
  3. (gymnastics) The floor exercise, also exercițiu la sol.[2][21]

Word family

Usage notes

DEX has five words spelt sol: besides the three above (its sol¹, sol² and sol⁵), sol³ is the currency of Peru (plural soli), and sol⁴ is a colloidal solution in chemistry, both from French sol.[1][21] Dimitrescu gives Spanish sol as the source of the currency's name, recorded in the press from 1977.[22] A proverb of the envoy says capul solului nu se taie “the envoy's head is not cut off”.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1031
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 926
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sol
  4. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. sol
  5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1219
  8. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 534
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sol
  10. ^ a b c d 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. sol
  11. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  12. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
  13. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. sol
  14. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 32:3
  15. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. sol
  16. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. sol
  17. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 446
  18. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  19. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  20. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 533
  21. ^ a b c Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. sol
  22. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. sol
  23. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. sol

Related etymologies

  • casă · also from Italian
  • la · also from Italian
  • fugă · also from Italian
  • vioară · also from Italian
  • abate · also from Italian
  • arie · also from Italian
  • cameră · also from Italian
  • special · also from Italian
Cite this entry

“Sol.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/sol. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·