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vină

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word vină

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1563–1583 Codicele Voronețean More words from the 16th century
Borrowed from
Old Church Slavonic вина
Ultimate origin
Proto-Slavic *vina

Pronunciation

Forms

vină f (plural vini)[1] Besides the plural vini, old and popular texts have vine.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic вина (vina, “cause; guilt”), as DER, MDA2, DEX and Wiktionary agree.[4][2][5][1] Ciorănescu glosses the Slavonic word as “accusation”, after Miklosich and Cihac;[4][3] Scriban as “cause, guilt”.[4][3] The Slavonic noun continues Proto-Slavic *vina.[1][6] Cihac had already set the Romanian word beside the Slavonic one.[7]

Some members of the family were borrowed separately: DER and DEX take vinovat “guilty” from a Slavonic adjective of the same root rather than forming it in Romanian.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), in the account of Paul's arrest (Acts 22:24), where it means “cause, reason”: the tribune ordered him questioned to learn „dereptu care vină” “for what cause” the crowd shouted against him.[2][8][9]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “cause, motive”, the sense of the Slavonic word, is rare today.[8][2] Scriban still quotes it as an old usage, vina scârbei lui “the cause of his grief”.[3] The sense “guilt, fault” was current in the old texts: the Bible of 1688 has Pilate say „Eu nu aflu întru el vină” “I find no fault in him” (John 19:6).[9] The New Testament of 1648 already uses the phrase de vina noastră “through our fault”.[9]

Modern usage centres on blame and responsibility, in phrases such as a fi de vină “to be to blame” and a da vina pe cineva “to put the blame on someone”.[5][3] The popular curse bată-l vina! expresses a reproach tinged with fondness.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1563-1583 – vină “cause” in the Codicele Voronețean.[2][8]
  • 1648 – de vina noastră “through our fault” in the preface of the New Testament.[9]
  • 1649 – vini in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.[10]
  • 1688 – “fault” in the Bucharest Bible (John 19:6).[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. guilt, fault: a deed that breaks what is right or good; a wrong, a sin.[5][2][1]
  2. Moral or legal responsibility for an offence: Vina e a mea. “It's my fault.”[2][5]
  3. de vină: to blame, responsible;[5] fără vină: innocent;[5] din vina cuiva: through someone's fault.[5]
  4. (obsolete) A cause, a reason.[2][1]

Word family

  • învinui
  • nevinovăție
  • vinovat
  • Old Church Slavonic вина (vina)

Usage notes

A da (or a arunca, a pune) vina pe cineva means to blame someone.[5] Pușcariu also records a form vină “vein, sinew”, inherited from Latin vena, beside standard vână; it is a different word.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1481
  3. ^ a b c d e Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1407
  4. ^ a b c d 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. vină
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 1198
  6. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 148
  7. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 456
  8. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vină
  9. ^ 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. vină
  10. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. vini
  11. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 177

Related etymologies

  • prea · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • înșela · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • pară · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • somn · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • veste · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • coș · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • lin · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • râs · also from Old Church Slavonic
Cite this entry

“Vină.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/vin%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·