Romanian words from Arabic
6 Romanian words with Arabic in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
chef
It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish كیف (keyf), the Ottoman Turkish word for “pleasure, good mood; tipsiness”; DELR also cites an old and dialectal Turkish variant without /j/. The Turkish word is…
chirie
In DELR, DEX and DLRLV it is borrowed from Bulgarian кирия (kirija) or Serbo-Croatian kirija, both of Turkish origin. Wiktionary names the Serbo-Croatian word alone, and MDA2 names Turkish and…
habar
It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish خبر (haber), colloquially pronounced Turkish habar, a word of the Ottoman layer. The Turkish word is from Arabic خَبَر (ḵabar, “news, report, knowledge”), a…
închiria
It is formed from Romanian în- + chirie (“rent”), from the phrase meaning “to give or to take for rent”. MDA2 and NODEX give the same analysis. Tiktin simply files it under chirie. Ciorănescu lists…
liliac
1. The word for the plant is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish لیلاق (leylak). DEX and MDA2 compare Bulgarian лиляк (liljak), and the DLR derives the word from the Bulgarian one, which BER in turn takes…
șerif
1. The word for the Arab prince is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish شریف (şerif), which is from Arabic شَرِيف (šarīf, “noble, honoured”). Tiktin derives it first from Turkish, later also from French…