Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word totdeauna

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1643 Varlaam's Cazania More words from the 17th century
Ultimate origins
Latin totusProto-Italic *dēRomanian a,una
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tōtus
Aromanian tut
Romanian tot
Romanian totdeauna
Spanish todo
Derivations
From the same root
Latin tōtālis ← tōtus
Aromanian totãna ← tut
Romanian totuși ← tot
Spanish todavía ← todo

Forms

totdeauna (invariable)[1] Budai-Deleanu has the variant totdeuna: „Te-oi chiema totdeuna” “I shall always call you”.[2] Caragiale writes todeauna: „de cari sînt todeauna doritor” “which I am always eager for”.[2] Tiktin also records întotdeauna, todauna, todeuna, deuna and întădeauna.[3]

Etymology

It is a compound from Romanian tot (“all”) + de (“of”) + a (“to”) + una (“one”).[4][5][2][3][1] Ciorănescu analyses it as tot with ⟨de-a una⟩ or, more probably, with ⟨de una⟩.[6] Șăineanu read it as ⟨tot într-una⟩, all in one go.[7] Tiktin compares Romansh adüna and adina, adverbs of the same type.[3] The first part is inherited from Latin tōtus (“whole, all”).[6][1]

Aromanian has tutdiunã beside totãna, built on the same parts.[8][9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Varlaam's Cazania of 1643, where a woman „nemică nu socotea, ce totdeauna striga și să ruga” “paid no heed to anything, but always cried out and prayed”.[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The adverb has meant “at all times, always” since the first texts.[2][3] Seventeenth-century manuscripts quoted by Tiktin use it in exhortations: „Totdeauna să vă fie gândurile și sufletele la Dumnezeu” “Let your thoughts and souls always be with God”.[3] The phrase pentru totdeauna “for good, for ever” is a later locution, and the sense “each time, as a rule” grew out of the first one.[4][10] The dictionaries of the early 19th century give it with Latin semper: Klein's has mai totdeauna “mostly”, and the Lexicon de la Buda spells it totudéuna.[11][12]

Timeline

  • 1643 – in Varlaam's Cazania, the first record.[5][3][2]
  • 1654 – in a manuscript printed in Gaster's chrestomathy.[3]
  • 1801 – mai totdeauna “mostly” in Klein's dictionary.[11]
  • 1825 – totudéuna in the Lexicon de la Buda.[12]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. always, at all times (up to now); continually, ever;[1] pentru totdeauna “for good, for ever”.[4][5][1]
  2. Each time, on every occasion; usually, as a rule.[4][5]

Usage notes

DEX gives totdeuna as a regional variant, and MDA2 lists many more regional forms, such as tădeauna and todeauna.[4][5] The form întotdeauna has the same meaning.[3][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. totdeauna
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. totdeauna
  4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1134
  5. ^ 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, 1246
  6. ^ a b c 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. tot
  7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 659
  8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1060
  9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1052
  10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 462
  11. ^ a b 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. 458
  12. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 714
  13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. totdeauna
Cite this entry

“Totdeauna.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/totdeauna. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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