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ușor

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word ușor

ușor1 doorpost

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1581–1582 Palia de la Orăștie
Inherited from
Latin ostiolum
Ultimate origin
Latin ostium

Pronunciation

  • /uˈʃor/, [uˈʃo̞r][1]

Forms

ușor m (plural ușori)[1] The Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582) has the form omșor: „Stropiți ... pragul de sus a ușiei și amândoi omșorii” “sprinkle the upper sill of the door and both doorposts” (Exodus 12:22).[2][3] Dosoftei writes umșor, and ușcior, uscior, uștior and ușchior are regional and literary variants.[2][4] Scriban places ușor in the east and ușcior in the west.[5]

Etymology

The word for the doorpost is inherited from Latin ostiolum (“little door”), a diminutive of ostium (“door”).[1][2][5] DEX, DLR and MDA2 give the Latin form as osteolum, and Scriban starts from a popular *ustiolum.[6][3][7][5] Tiktin takes the word as the regular outcome of the Latin one and the variant ⟨ușcior⟩ as a younger diminutive remade after ușă.[2] Wiktionary also analyses the word as that noun with the suffix ⟨-or⟩.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, where omșorii are the two posts of a door in the Passover instructions of Exodus.[2][3] MDA2 dates its first record to the Romanian Herodotus of 1645.[7]

Semantic evolution

From the two upright posts of a door or gate the word extended to the whole wooden frame of a door or window, and in old and regional use to any post, beam or girder.[7][3] In regional technical vocabulary it names the uprights of a sawmill frame, the posts that guide a mill sluice and the wooden cogs of a mill wheel.[7]

Timeline

  • 1581–1582 – omșori “doorposts” in the Palia de la Orăștie.[2][3]
  • 1645 – ușor in the Romanian translation of Herodotus.[7]
  • 1688 – the Bucharest Bible has stâlpi ai ușii where manuscripts read umșori.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Either of the two upright posts to which the leaves of a door or gate are hinged; the sides of a door or window frame; a doorpost, jamb.[6][1]
  2. By extension, the whole wooden frame of a door or window.[7][3]
  3. (old, regional) A post, beam or upright, especially in a mill or sawmill.[7]

ușor2 light, easy

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1550 before 1550, a text in the Cuvente den bătrâni
Ultimate origin
Latin levis
Etymology tree of ușor2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin lēvis
Italian lieve
Romanian ușor
From the same root · ușor2
English oblivion ← lēvis
Latin alleviō ← lēvis
Latin levitās ← lēvis
Latin leviter ← lēvis
Latin levō ← lēvis
Latin lēvor ← lēvis

Pronunciation

  • /uˈʃor/, [uˈʃo̞r][1]

Forms

ușor m or n (feminine singular ușoară, masculine plural ușori, feminine/neuter plural ușoare)[1] The old form is iușor: „Sarcina me iușora iaste” “my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30) in a Gospel text of 1551–1553.[8] Ușure is an old and regional variant.[6][9] In Moldovan Cyrillic it was written ушор.[1]

Etymology

The adjective for light and easy continues the older iușor, formed from Romanian *lieu + -șor, the base being from Latin levis (“light”).[9][1][10][7][11] The base, a Romanian outcome of the Latin adjective that is not recorded on its own, would match Italian lieve and Occitan leu.[9][5] Ciorănescu calls the derivation not simple.[9][5] DEX explains the loss of the first ⟨i⟩ through the comparative ⟨mai iușor⟩ “lighter”.[6] The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (“light”).[1][12]

The word has Aromanian lishor or ljiushor and Megleno-Romanian licșor as cognates.[9][1][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, from before 1550, speaks of angels carrying light burdens: „De unde veniți, îngerii mei, de aduceți aceale sarcine iușoare?” “Where do you come from, my angels, bringing those light burdens?”.[10][7] A Gospel text of 1551–1553 calls Christ's burden iușora “light”.[8]

Semantic evolution

From “of little weight” the word spread to “easy to bear”, “mild” (of an illness or a punishment), “easy to do” and “nimble, quick”.[6][9] Applied to the mind it means “light-headed, frivolous”, and of women's conduct, “loose”.[8][9][6] The modern language has many fixed phrases with it: industrie ușoară “light industry”, muzică ușoară “popular music” and categorie ușoară “lightweight” in boxing and wrestling.[6][7] As an adverb it means “gently, softly”, “easily” and “a little”.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1550 – iușoare “light” (of burdens) in a text of the Cuvente den bătrâni.[10][7]
  • 1551–1553 – iușora “light” in a Gospel text (Matthew 11:30).[8]
  • 1801 – ușor glossed by Latin levis in Klein's dictionary.[14]
  • 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses the adjective with Latin levis and facilis, the adverb with leviter and facile.[15]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. light: of little weight, as in industrie ușoară “light industry”.[6][1]
  2. (of food) Easy to digest.[6]
  3. nimble, quick; of a step, barely touching the ground, soft.[6]
  4. Slight, faint, gentle: somn ușor “light sleep”.[6]
  5. Easy to bear; mild: o răceală ușoară “a mild cold”.[6]
  6. easy, simple: muzică ușoară “popular music”.[6][1]
  7. Not serious, superficial, frivolous: moravuri ușoare “loose morals”.[6]

Adverb

  1. Gently, softly, without noise: Bătu ușor la ușă.[6]
  2. Easily, without effort.[6][1]
  3. Lightly, without seriousness: a lua ușor “to take lightly”.[6]
  4. A little, slightly.[6]

Word family

  • ușura
  • ușurătate
  • ușuratic
  • ușurel
  • ușurime
  • ușurință

Usage notes

The formula Fie-i țărâna ușoară! “may the earth lie light on him” is said at burials and memorials.[6] MDA2 and DLR also record a rare neuter ușor as a variant of omușor “uvula”.[7][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ușor 1
  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. ușor 1
  4. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 605
  5. ^ a b c d e Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1386
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1178
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1399
  8. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ușor 2
  9. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ușor
  10. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ușor 4
  11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5004
  12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 176
  14. ^ 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. 466
  15. ^ 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. 741
  16. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ușor 2

Related etymologies

  • apă · also from Latin
  • bun · also from Latin
  • unde · also from Latin
  • veni · also from Latin
  • noi · also from Latin
  • bine · also from Latin
  • un · also from Latin
  • și · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Ușor.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/u%C8%99or. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·