Romanian words from Latin
2078 Romanian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 18).
lemn
It is inherited from Latin lignum (“wood, firewood”). The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian lemnu, Megleno-Romanian lemu and Istro-Romanian lęmnę. The Romance cognates include Italian…
lemnamă
DLR and MDA2 take it as inherited from Latin lignāmen (“timber”). Ciorănescu says only that it seems to reproduce that Latin word, after the DA, and Wiktionary gives as an alternative a Romanian…
lepăda
It is probably inherited from Latin lapidō (“to throw stones at, to stone”), a verb formed on lapis (“stone”). Tiktin calls the change of meaning remarkable. Ciorănescu grants that the sense is the…
leșie
It is inherited from Latin lixīva (“lye”), the noun use of the adjective lixīvus (“made into lye”) used with aqua (“water”), from lixa (“water mixed with ashes”). The word survives in Istro-Romanian…
leu
1. The word for the lion is borrowed from Latin leō (“lion”), according to Ciorănescu a learned loan, which he dates to the 17th century. Inheritance is hard on the sound: Latin short /e/ would have…
liber
1. The word for the bast of plants is a learned loan: the DLR and MDA2 take it borrowed from Latin liber (“inner bark of a tree; book”) and French liber, the French botanical term. The neologism…
libertate
It is a learned word, borrowed from French liberté, and directly borrowed from Latin lībertās (“freedom”): DEX 2009, MDA2, Tiktin, the DLR and Wiktionary name both sources. Marcu & Maneca give Latin…
licență
It is borrowed from French licence, also borrowed from Latin licentia (“freedom, permission”); MDA2 and the DLR add German Lizenz. The DA treats it as a neologism after French and derives one of its…
limbă
It is inherited from Latin lingua (“tongue, language”). The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian limbã, Megleno-Romanian limbă and Istro-Romanian limbę. Its Romance cognates include Italian…
limbric
It is inherited from Latin lumbrīcus (“earthworm; intestinal worm”). Candrea and Densusianu explain the vowels: unstressed /u/ before /m/ became /i/, and the second vowel was assimilated to it. The…
limbut
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *linguūtus (“full of tongue, talkative”), formed on lingua (“tongue”), with its sounds shaped by limbă “tongue”. Its Romance cognates include Sardinian limbudu…
limită
It is borrowed from French limite, at the same time borrowed from Latin līmes (“boundary”): the dictionaries name both models. The Marcu–Maneca dictionary names Italian limite too. Gabinschi counts…
limpede
It is inherited from Latin limpidus (“clear, transparent”). The singular ending ⟨-e⟩ is a change of declension: Candrea and Densusianu and the DLR explain it from the plural limpezi, on the model of…
lin
1. The word for the tench is borrowed from Bulgarian лин (lin, “tench”), according to DEX, MDA2 and the DLR. Ciorănescu and Tiktin take it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic линь (linĭ), after…
linge
It is inherited from Latin lingō (“to lick”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian alingu, Megleno-Romanian ling and Istro-Romanian ling. In the rest of Romance the verb is found in dialects…
lingoare
It is inherited from Latin languor (“faintness, weariness”), continued through its accusative languōrem. The Latin noun is formed on langueō (“to be faint, weary”) with the suffix -or. Ciorănescu…
lingură
It is inherited from Latin lingula (“spoon”). Ciorănescu notes that this form is attested in Martial and arose from a crossing of ligula (“spoon”) with lingō (“to lick”), following Keller, Pușcariu…
linie
It is borrowed from Latin līnea (“linen thread, line”), together with borrowed from Italian linea, borrowed in the 18th century. MDA2 and the DLR add German Linie and French ligne; the DLR says…
liniște
It is formed from Romanian lin + -iște, on the adjective meaning “calm, gentle”. Ciorănescu calls the suffix Slavic and thinks the word a learned formation rather than a purely popular one. The…
linte
It is inherited from Latin lēns (“lentil”), continuing its accusative form ⟨lentem⟩. The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian linti and Megleno-Romanian linti. Its Romance cognates are…
liră
1. The word for the lyre is borrowed from French lyre, borrowed from Latin lyra, with Italian lira as a further model in DER, MDA2 and the DLR, which also names Modern Greek λύρα (líra). Wiktionary…
literă
It is borrowed from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet”), a learned loan. Ciorănescu dates it to the 19th century. The DLR names French lettre and Italian lettera beside the Latin word. These…
loc
It is inherited from Latin locus (“place, spot”), a word inherited by every Romance language. It keeps the same form in all four branches of Romanian: Aromanian loc, Megleno-Romanian loc and…
local
It is borrowed from French local, also borrowed from Late Latin locālis, as MDA2, DLR and the neologism dictionaries give it. DEX and DILF name French alone, while Tiktin takes the Latin word as the…
lua
It is inherited from Latin levō (“to lift, raise”). Tiktin notes that the Latin verb “to raise” came to mean “to take” in the south and southwest of the Romance area. Candrea and Densusianu explain…
luceafăr
It is inherited from Latin lūcifer (“light-bringing; the morning star”), continued through its accusative lūciferum. The Latin word is formed on lūx (“light”) with -fer (“-carrying”), a calque of…
luced
It is inherited from Latin lūcidus (“bright, shining”), as Bogrea proposed. The Latin adjective is formed on lūceō (“to shine”) with -idus. The REW sets it beside Spanish lucio and Portuguese luzio…
luci
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lūcīre, a fourth-conjugation variant of Latin lūceō (“to shine”). Tiktin notes that the change of conjugation is widespread in Romance. The Latin verb belongs with…
lucoare
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lūcōrem (“brightness”), from Latin lūceō (“to shine”). DEX gives the Latin noun as lucor. DELI records the Latin noun as a late word, from the 6th century. The…
lucra
It is most probably inherited from Late Latin lucrō (“to gain, profit”), from lucror (“to gain”), a verb formed on lucrum (“gain, profit”). Ciorănescu finds the shift from “to gain” to “to work”…
lucrare
It is the long infinitive of lucra (“to work”), formed from Romanian lucra + -re, and so a verbal noun “the act of working and its result”. The verb is from Latin lucrāre (“to gain, profit”)…
lucru
It is inherited from Latin lucrum (“material gain, profit”) according to Pușcariu and the REW, a view Ciorănescu accepts as probable. The word exists in all four branches: Aromanian lucru…
lumânare
It is inherited from Late Latin lūmināria, the neuter plural of lūmināre (“light, lamp”), from lūmen (“light”). Ciorănescu and Tiktin give the Latin singular as the etymon, and Ciorănescu notes that…
lume
It is inherited from Latin lūmen (“light”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian lume, Megleno-Romanian lumi and Istro-Romanian lume. Its Romance cognates keep the sense “light” or “fire”…
lumina
Most dictionaries take it as a verb formed from Romanian lumină (“light”) within the language. Ciorănescu treats it as a derivative of the noun as well: its conjugation looks Romanian, and the /i/…
lumină
It is inherited from Latin lūmina, the plural of lūmen (“light”), taken as a feminine singular. The stress moved from the first syllable to the second; Ciorănescu suggests a confusion with the…
luminos
For DEX, Scriban, Șăineanu and Graur it is inherited from Latin lūminōsus (“full of light”). DLR and MDA2 form it from Romanian lumină + -os. Tiktin allows both, and adds that the word at least…
lună
It is inherited from Latin lūna (“moon”). The DÉRom counts it among the words inherited from Proto-Romance. The Latin word is Old Latin losna, from Proto-Italic *louksnā, from Proto-Indo-European…
lunatic
It is borrowed from Latin lūnāticus (“moonstruck, epileptic”), and in its modern senses also borrowed from French lunatique. The neologism dictionaries add Italian lunatico. Tiktin thinks the word…
lung
It is inherited from Latin longus (“long”). Wiktionary takes the Latin word back to Proto-Indo-European *dl̥h₁gʰós (“long”). De Vaan reconstructs *dlongʰos for Latin and Germanic and notes that the…
lungi
It is formed from Romanian lung (“long”) + -i, as Ciorănescu, Tiktin, MDA2, the DEX and the DLR derive it. The adjective is from Latin longus (“long”). Wiktionary also allows Vulgar Latin *longiō…
lungime
It is formed from Romanian lung + -ime. Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of the adjective and finds Meyer's Latin *longimen unnecessary. Wiktionary also prefers the Romanian derivation. The…
luni
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lūnis, an analogical form of diēs Lūnae (“day of the Moon”) made after Mārtis and Iovis, the genitives in the names of Tuesday and Thursday. The Latin phrase is a…
luntre
It is inherited from Latin lunter (“small boat”), a popular variant of linter (“trough; skiff”). De Vaan gives the Latin word no etymology; Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek πλυντήρ (pluntḗr) and…
lup
It is inherited from Latin lupus (“wolf”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian lup, Megleno-Romanian lup and Istro-Romanian lup. Its Romance cognates include Italian lupo, Occitan lop…
lupta
It is inherited from Latin luctor (“to wrestle, struggle”), through the active form luctāre that Old Latin used beside the classical deponent. The Latin verb was first a term of athletics, “to…
luptă
It is inherited from Late Latin lucta (“wrestling, struggle”), a noun formed on lūctor (“to wrestle”). The Latin verb is a frequentative, which de Vaan derives from a participle meaning “bent” and…
luptător
It is formed from Romanian lupta (“to fight”) + -ător, as Tiktin, the DLR, the DEX and MDA2 derive it. The verb is from Latin luctor (“to wrestle”). Wiktionary instead takes the noun straight from…
lut
It is inherited from Latin lutum (“mud, dirt, clay”). The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian lut, Megleno-Romanian lut and Istro-Romanian lut. Its Romance cognates include Italian loto…
măcelar
It is inherited from Latin macellārius (“butcher, meat seller”), from macellum (“meat market”). Its Romance cognates include Italian macellaio, Old French maiselier and Occitan mazelier. Tiktin…
măcina
It is inherited from Late Latin māchinō (“to grind”), the Late Latin verb formed on Latin māchina (“machine; mill”). The classical verb was the deponent māchinor (“to devise, contrive”), which…
măciucă
Most dictionaries take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *matteūca (“club”). This form is built on *mattea, which is preserved in the Latin diminutive mateola (“mallet”). Its Romance cognates…
macru
It is inherited from Latin macer (“thin, lean”), from its accusative macrum. Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu (no. 1012), Candrea–Densusianu (no. 1037) and the REW for this etymology. The word survives…
mădular
It is inherited from Latin medullāris (“of the marrow”). Tiktin thinks the noun arose from os medullare (“marrow bone”), and points to a 9th-century glossary that explains medullarum as membrorum…
măduvă
It is inherited from Latin medulla (“marrow, pith”). The Latin word gave măduă, and the hiatus was then filled by /v/ (elsewhere /h/ or /g/), as in văduvă. Candrea and Densusianu explain the shift…
maiestate
It is borrowed from Latin maiestās (“greatness, dignity, majesty”), a neologism with French majesté as a second source. MDA2 adds German Majestät as a third model. The Latin noun is formed on the…
măiestru
It is inherited from Latin magister (“master, teacher”), perhaps through a Vulgar Latin form *maistrum. Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu (no. 1016), Candrea–Densusianu (no. 1043), the REW and Tiktin, and…
mâine
It is inherited from Latin māne (“in the morning, early”). The Latin word was an adverb meaning “early in the day”, and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *meh₂- (“to ripen, mature”)…
mamă
It is probably inherited from Latin mamma (“breast; mother”). Ciorănescu calls it an expressive nursery word, built on the idea of food and the person who gives it, which is why it can mean both…
mămică
It is formed from Romanian mamă + -ică, a diminutive with the suffix used for endearment. The base noun is from Latin mamma, which Ciorănescu takes as an expressive nursery word, probably the direct…