Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word urgență

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1849 Bucovina More words from the 19th century
Borrowed from
French urgence
Ultimate origin
Latin urgeō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French urgence
Romanian urgență

Forms

urgență f (plural urgențe)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French urgence, as DEX 2009, MDA2, NODEX, Marcu and Wiktionary give it.[2][3][4][5][1] Marcu & Maneca add Italian urgenza, and Scriban derives it from urgent, with the French word beside it.[6][7] The French noun is formed on urgent with the suffix -ence; the adjective is borrowed from Late Latin, the present participle of Latin urgeō (“to press, urge”).[1][8] MDA2 records an old variant urgință.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to 1849, in Bucovina, with the sense “the quality of being urgent”.[3]

Semantic evolution

The phrase de urgență “at once, without delay” was in use by the time of Caragiale.[9] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 has în caz de urgență “in case of urgent need”.[10] Marcu records stare de urgență “state of emergency”.[5]

Timeline

  • 1849 – in Bucovina, the first record.[3]
  • 1886 – în caz de urgență in Barcianu.[10]
  • 1929 – Șăineanu defines it as the character of what is urgent.[11]
  • 1931 – a headword in the CADE, marked as a French word.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. urgency: the quality of what is urgent; a situation that needs to be solved at once, an emergency: de urgență “immediately, without delay”.[2][1]
  2. stare de urgență: a state of emergency declared by the state.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1175
  3. ^ 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, 1389
  4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. urgență
  5. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. urgență
  6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. urgență
  7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1382
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. urgent
  9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 592
  10. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 676
  11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 681
  12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. urgență

Related etymologies

  • cap · also from French
  • dura · also from French
  • pur · also from French
  • pană · also from French
  • pat · also from French
  • masă · also from French
  • lac · also from French
  • primar · also from French
Cite this entry

“Urgență.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/urgen%C8%9B%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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