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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word tare

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1500–1520 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki More words from the 15th century
Inherited from
Latin talis
Ultimate origin
Latin tālis
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tālis
French tel
Italian tale
Romanian tare
Spanish tal
From the same root
French tellement ← tel

Pronunciation

Forms

tare m or f or n (plural tari)[1] Old and regional variants include tire, taire, taure and tiure.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tālis (“such, of such a kind”), from its accusative tālem.[3][2][4][1] DER follows Pușcariu, the REW and Rosetti, and lists the Romance cognates Italian tale, French tel, Spanish tal, Portuguese tal, Catalan tal and Occitan tal.[4][5] The Latin pronoun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teh₂-li- (“such”).[6]

It has cognates in two of the sister branches: Megleno-Romanian tari “very” and Istro-Romanian tore.[4][7]

The change of meaning from “such” to “strong” has several explanations.[4] Tiktin links the senses “a certain one” and “so important”.[4] Skok and Densusianu point to the influence of Proto-Slavic *jakъ (“such”), whose descendants include Serbo-Croatian jak (“strong, healthy”).[4][8] DER also suggests the comparative ⟨mai tare⟩ “more important”.[4] Cihac had noted that the Latin word could already mark an outstanding quality.[9] Wiktionary puts the steps as “so great, excellent”, then “strong”, then “hard”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.[2] That psalter has the plural tari in Psalm 17:20.[10] Tiktin's earliest record is the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 25:5), and his first sense is “strong”, as in the Bible of 1688: „Veți vedea ... norodul ... de iaste tare au slab” “you shall see whether the people … is strong or weak”.[11]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word meant “strong, mighty”;[11][1][3] “hard” (the opposite of moale “soft”) and “loud” (the opposite of încet) came later and are now its central senses.[11][1][3] As an adverb it means “strongly” and above all “very”.[3][4] Colloquial speech uses it for “cool, great”.[1]

The noun tărie “strength” also came to mean “fortress” and, in poetry, “the firmament”.[4][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1500–1520 – tare in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.[2]
  • 16th century – tare in the Codicele Voronețean.[11]
  • 1688 – tare “strong” in the Bucharest Bible, Numbers 13:19.[11]
  • 1870 – Cihac lists the derivatives tărie, tărime and tăricel.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. hard, solid; not easily pierced or split; durable.[3][1]
  2. Stiff, not flexible;[3] (of cloth) starched.[3]
  3. (of people, animals, parts of the body) Strong, vigorous;[3][1] tare de ureche “hard of hearing”.[3][1]
  4. Firm and resolute in the face of trials.[3]
  5. Powerful, having authority; well versed in a field.[3]
  6. (of arguments) Convincing.[3]
  7. (of natural phenomena) Violent;[3][1] (of words) harsh, offensive.[3][1]
  8. (of sounds) loud.[3][1]
  9. (of air) Cool and fresh;[3] (of sensations) intense, sharp.[3]
  10. (of drinks) High in alcohol;[3][1] (of substances) concentrated.[3][1]
  11. (of colours) Vivid.[3]
  12. (colloquial, slightly dated) cool, great.[1]

Adverb

  1. Very, extremely: E tare frig azi.[3][1]
  2. With force or intensity.[3][1]
  3. Aloud; in a raised voice.[3][1]
  4. Fast.[3][1]

Word family

  • tărie
  • întări
  • întăritor
  • întăritură

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1158
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1103
  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. tare
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8543
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 291
  8. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 28
  9. ^ a b c Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 278
  10. ^ 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 17:20
  11. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. tare

Related etymologies

  • nuntă · also from Latin
  • urca · also from Latin
  • apropia · also from Latin
  • baie · also from Latin
  • vad · also from Latin
  • pas · also from Latin
  • purta · also from Latin
  • teme · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Tare.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/tare. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·