Romanian words from Latin
2092 Romanian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 19).
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…
mâna
It is inherited from Latin minō (“to drive (animals)”), a by-form of minor (“to threaten”). Lewis and Short explain the sense “to drive” by the threatening shouts of cattle drivers; the verb is…
mână
It is inherited from Latin manus (“hand”). Wiktionary and Pușcariu set up a Vulgar Latin *mana in between, with the feminine ending -a, and Pușcariu found it in Tuscan, southern Italian, Old…
mânc
It is inherited from Latin mancus (“maimed, crippled”). Ciorănescu cites Densusianu, Candrea and Scriban for this; he doubts Pușcariu's link of the Moldavian adjective manc (“imperfect, faulty”)…
mânca
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *manucāre (“to eat”), a reduced form of Latin mandūcō (“to chew, eat”). Ciorănescu prefers this form to the *manicāre that Diez, Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu…
mâncare
It is the long infinitive of mânca (“to eat”), formed from Romanian mânca + -re, and is used as a noun both for the act of eating and for food. The verb is from Vulgar Latin *manucō, a reduced form…
mânea
It is inherited from Latin maneō (“to remain, stay”). The Latin verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stay, stand still”). It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian amîn. The Romance…
mânecă
It is inherited from Latin manica (“sleeve”), formed on manus (“hand”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian mãnicã, Megleno-Romanian mǫnică and Istro-Romanian mărecă. Its Romance cognates…
mângâia
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *manganeō (“to bewitch”), from Ancient Greek μαγγανεύω (manganeúō, “to use charms or philtres”), from μάγγανον (mánganon, “means of charming, philtre”). Ciorănescu…
mânie
DEX, Ciorănescu and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Latin mania (“madness”), a popular Latin word, which is from Ancient Greek μανία (manía, “madness, frenzy”). The Greek noun belongs with the…
mănunchi
It is inherited from Latin manuclus (“handful, sheaf”), a late form of manipulus (“handful, bundle”). Wiktionary gives the late form as Late Latin manuculus, refashioned so that it seemed to end in…
măr
It continues the Latin forms with /e/ for classical /a/: the fruit is inherited from Latin mēlum (“apple”), a variant of mālum, and the tree inherited from Vulgar Latin *mēlus (“apple tree”), for…
mărăcine
Its origin is disputed. DEX and MDA2 take it as inherited from Latin marrūcīna (“a kind of thorny shrub”), which Candrea and Densusianu find in a Latin glossary miswritten ⟨marrugina⟩. Most authors…
mârced
It is inherited from Latin marcidus (“withered, rotten”), from marceō (“to wither”) and the suffix -idus. The vowel ⟨â⟩ is unexpected. Ciorănescu puts it down to expressive treatment and a false…
mare
1. The word for “big” is probably inherited from Latin mās (“male”), through its accusative ⟨marem⟩. Diez already proposed it, and it is the view of Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, Tiktin, MDA2…
mărgea
It is inherited from Latin margella (“coral, pearl”), a word known only from a Greek–Latin glossary, where it renders Ancient Greek κοράλλιον (korállion, “red coral”). MDA2 and DLR call it Medieval…
margine
It is inherited from Latin margō (“edge, border”), continued from the accusative marginem. The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian mardzine and Megleno-Romanian mardzini. Its Romance…
mărita
It is inherited from Latin marītō (“to give in marriage, marry”), formed on marītus (“husband”), which survived in Old Romanian as the noun mărit “husband”. It survives in all four branches…
marmură
It is inherited from Latin marmor (“marble”). The Latin word is borrowed from Ancient Greek μάρμαρος (mármaros, “stone, marble”). Beekes describes the Greek word's first sense as “stone, rock” and…
marț
1. The word for the game term is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish مرس (mars, “double win at backgammon”). Ciorănescu traces the Turkish word to Italian marcio (“rotten”) or its dialect form marzo…
marți
It is inherited from Latin Mārtis (“of Mars”), the genitive of Mārs in the phrase diēs Mārtis (“day of Mars”), with the word for “day” left out. The Latin name of the day is formed from diēs (“day”)…
martor
It is inherited from Latin martyr (“witness; martyr”), or its Vulgar Latin form martur, which the Latin inscriptions show. Latin had the word from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), a later form of…
mărunt
It is inherited from Latin minūtus (“small”), the past participle of minuō (“to make smaller”). The regular result was mănunt, with the /n/ carried into the first syllable, and the first /n/ then…
măruntaie
It is inherited from Late Latin minūtālia (“small things, minced meat”), a derivative of minūtus (“small”). MDA2 writes the Latin as minutolia. Romance cognates include Italian minutaglia, Catalan…
mas
It is inherited from Latin mānsum (“a stay”), the supine of maneō (“to remain, stay”), according to Tiktin, MDA2, the DLR and DEX. Ciorănescu takes it instead as a Romanian derivative of mânea “to…
masă
1. The word for “mass” is borrowed from French masse, a neologism of the early 19th century. The DLR, MDA2 and Tiktin also name German Masse as a source; DEX names only the French word. The…
mascur
It is inherited from Latin masculus (“male”); Tiktin starts from porcus masculus (“male pig”). Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu (no. 1044), Candrea–Densusianu (no. 1049) and the REW. The Latin word is a…
măsea
It is inherited from Latin maxilla (“jaw”). The Latin word is a diminutive of māla (“jaw, cheekbone”). The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian mãseauã and Megleno-Romanian măseauă. Its…
măsura
It is inherited from Late Latin mēnsūrō (“to measure”), a verb first recorded in the 4th century and formed on mēnsūra (“measure”). Candrea–Densusianu, Tiktin and the REW take it straight from the…
măsură
It is inherited from Latin mēnsūra (“measuring, measure”). The Latin noun is formed on mētior (“to measure”) with -tūra. The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian misură and Megleno-Romanian…
maț
It is inherited from Latin matia (“bowels, intestines”). The first Romanian form was the plural mațe, matching the Latin form, and the singular was remade from it later, as Candrea showed…
mătase
It is inherited from Latin metaxa (“raw silk, thread”), also spelled mataxa. Latin took it from Ancient Greek μέταξα (métaxa, “raw silk”), a word of unknown origin; the spelling with ⟨a⟩, “rough…
material
It is borrowed from French matériel and directly borrowed from Latin māteriālis (“made of matter”) according to DEX and Marcu, who also names German materiell; MDA2 and the DLR give the same three…
mătrice
It is inherited from Latin mātrīcem (“womb”), the accusative case of the Latin noun. The Latin word is formed on māter (“mother”) and meant a breeding animal and the womb. The word survives south of…
matur
It is borrowed from Latin mātūrus (“ripe, full-grown”), with Italian maturo as a second model. Ciorănescu calls it a 19th-century doublet of mator “old”, which he takes from Old Church Slavonic…
mătușă
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *mita, a form of Latin amita (“father's sister, aunt”) that lost its first syllable, extended in Romanian with the diminutive suffix -ușă, as in auș. DEX, MDA2 and…
medic
It is a learned borrowed from Latin medicus (“physician”), as DEX, DLR, MDA2, MDN, Tiktin and Wiktionary give it. Ciorănescu has it as borrowed from Italian medico instead. The old adjective…
medical
It is borrowed from French médical. The French adjective is from Medieval Latin medicālis, formed on Latin medicus (“physician”). Negulici's dictionary of neologisms gave the Medieval Latin word as…
medicament
It is borrowed from French médicament, also borrowed from Latin medicāmentum (“drug, remedy”), as MDA2, DEX 2009, the DLR and the MDN give it. The DN names French with a reference to Latin…
mediu
The adjective is borrowed from Latin medius (“middle”). Gabinschi takes it from Latin with Italian medio as a model, and DLR and MDA2 compare mezzo for the older form meziu. The noun is borrowed…
membru
It is borrowed from Latin membrum (“limb, member”), with French membre as a second model, as DEX, DLR and MDA2 give it, and MDA2 adds Italian membro. Wiktionary gives only French, Tiktin only New…
memorie
It is borrowed from Latin memoria (“memory”), with Italian memoria and French mémoire as further models. Tiktin gives Latin and Italian, the neologism dictionaries Latin, Italian and French…
meresân
Its origin is uncertain. Wiktionary, DLRM and CADE take it as inherited from Latin malesānus (“unhealthy”), the derivation Drăganu proposed in the journal Dacoromania; MDA2 and DLR only compare that…
merge
It is inherited from Latin mergō (“to dip, plunge, sink”), with a change of meaning found only in Eastern Romance. The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mesg- (“to plunge, dip”). The verb…
merinde
It is inherited from Latin merenda (“light afternoon meal”), a word that originally named a light meal given to labourers in the afternoon. The Latin noun is the gerundive of mereō (“to earn…
meriza
It is inherited from Latin merīdiō (“to take a midday rest, a siesta”). The Latin verb is formed on merīdiēs (“midday, noon”). South of the Danube the verb is Aromanian amiridz, used of sheep…
meser
It is inherited from Latin miser (“wretched, unfortunate”). Elsewhere in Romance the Latin adjective left only a few old forms, such as Old Lombard meser and Old French mezre, which did not last…
meserere
It is inherited from Latin miserēre (“to have pity”), the Latin infinitive kept as a noun. Tiktin finds the survival of the infinitive as a noun very striking. Wiktionary instead supposes a lost…
mește
It is inherited from Latin misceō (“to mix”). The Romanian verb, like Italian mescere, has the stress on the root, so Candrea and Densusianu, DELI and Nocentini start from an infinitive of the third…
mesteacăn
It is probably inherited from Late Latin mastichinus (“of mastic”), from Ancient Greek μαστίχινος (mastíkhinos, “prepared with mastic”), from μαστίχη (mastíkhē, “mastic”). The tree was named after…
mesteca
It is inherited from Latin masticō (“to chew”). The Latin verb is a late, popular formation with the suffix -icō, borrowed from Ancient Greek μαστιχάω (mastikháō, “to grind the teeth”). Tiktin…
metru
It is borrowed from French mètre and, at the same time, borrowed from Latin metrum (“poetic metre”), as DEX and DILF give it. Tiktin and Wiktionary name French alone, and DN compares Ancient Greek…