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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word tău

Romanian has two words spelled tău: a regional noun for a pond or mountain lake, borrowed from Hungarian, and the possessive “your”, inherited from Latin.[1][2] A folk couplet plays on the two: „Bădiță, de dorul tău, Mă topesc ca inu-n tău” “sweetheart, for longing for you I melt like flax in the pond”.[3]

tău1 pond, mountain lake

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1500 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki
Borrowed from
Hungarian tó
Ultimate origin
Hungarian tó

Pronunciation

Forms

tău n (plural tăuri)[2]

Etymology

The word for a pond or mountain lake is borrowed from Hungarian tó (“lake, pond”).[4][5][1][6][7][2] Cihac and Tiktin already gave this source.[8][6] It belongs to the Hungarian layer of Transylvania and Moldavia, where the word is mainly used.[4][7] The Hungarian word is an old Uralic one, and it occurs in place names from the 11th century.[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in the plural tăure: „Tremeți izvoarele în tăure” “you send the springs into the pools” (Psalm 103).[7][5][3]

Semantic evolution

In the old literary language the word also meant “abyss, chasm”.[11][1] Dosoftei's verse psalter has „Iară aceia ce-mi cearcă răul, Fără de veaste să-i soarbă tăul” “and those who seek my harm, may the abyss swallow them without trace”.[11] In folk belief dracii din tău are the devils that live in lakes.[3][12]

Today it is regional, for a pond or for a glacial lake in the mountains.[1][13] In Maramureș it names lakes such as Tăul lui Dumitru.[13] Villages in Alba and Mureș counties are called Tău.[2]

Timeline

  • early 16th century – the plural tăure in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.[7][5]
  • 17th century – tău “abyss” in Dosoftei's verse psalter.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (regional) A shallow pond of standing water; a glacial mountain lake, a tarn.[1][2]
  2. (obsolete) An abyss, a chasm.[1]

Word family

  • tăuit
  • toaie

tău2 your, yours

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1500 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki
Inherited from
Latin tuus
Ultimate origin
Latin tuus
Etymology tree of tău2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tuus
Aromanian tãu
French tien
Italian tuo
Romanian tău
Spanish tu
Spanish tuyo

Pronunciation

Forms

tău m or n (feminine singular ta, masculine plural tăi, feminine/neuter plural tale)[2]

Etymology

The possessive is inherited from Latin tuus (“your”), through the neuter ⟨tuum⟩.[4][5][7][2] Candrea, Pușcariu and the REW assume a dissimilated *toum, like *soum for suum.[4][14] Graur and Rosetti assume *teum, after meum.[4] Wiktionary names both and traces the Latin word to Proto-Italic *towos.[2]

It survives as Aromanian tãu and Megleno-Romanian tǫu.[4][15][16] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian to, Italian tuo, French ton, Catalan teu, Portuguese teu and Spanish tu.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The forms tău, ta, tăi and tale all occur in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.[17][18] MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).[5]

Semantic evolution

After a noun of kinship the word is shortened to -tu: fiu-tău becomes fiu-tu “your son”.[4] In Muntenia tale is also pronounced tele, after mele.[4] Used as a noun with the article, it can mean “your husband” or “your wife”, and ai tăi “your family”.[1][5]

Timeline

  • early 16th century – tău in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.[17]
  • c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.[5]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. (with the article al, a, ai, ale) yours (one person addressed): Casa asta e a ta? “Is this house yours?”[1][2]
  2. (plural) Your concerns, habits or opinions;[1] pe-a ta “as you wish”.[1]
  3. (popular) Your husband or wife.[1]
  4. (masculine plural) ai tăi “your family, your people”.[1]

Determiner

  1. your (one person addressed), for possession, belonging or relationship: mașina ta “your car”, prietenii tăi “your friends”.[1][2]
  2. After words that act as prepositions: în locul tău “in your place”.[1]

Usage notes

The possessive has the forms tău (masculine and neuter singular), ta (feminine singular), tăi (masculine plural) and tale (feminine and neuter plural).[1][2] The noun's plural is tăuri.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1109
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ 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. tău
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. tău
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1176
  6. ^ a b Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 775
  7. ^ 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. tău
  8. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 532
  9. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 928
  10. ^ Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  11. ^ a b c Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 294
  12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 644
  13. ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. tău
  14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9020
  15. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1004
  16. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 169
  17. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 4:8
  18. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 2:8

Related etymologies

  • baie · also from Hungarian
  • suci · also from Hungarian
  • must · also from Hungarian
  • ban · also from Hungarian
  • gândi · also from Hungarian
  • fel · also from Hungarian
  • seamă · also from Hungarian
  • întâlni · also from Hungarian
Cite this entry

“Tău.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/t%C4%83u. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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