Romanian words from Latin
2298 Romanian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 20).
lat
It is inherited from Latin lātus (“wide, broad”). It survives in Aromanian lat. Its Romance cognates include Italian lato, French lé and Occitan lat. The Latin adjective had an older form stlātus…
laț
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *laceus, the popular form of Latin laqueus (“loop of rope, noose, snare”). Ciorănescu and the Academy dictionary give the classical form itself, citing Diez…
latin
It is borrowed from Latin latīnus (“of Latium, Latin”). DEX names French latin as a second source, and MDA2 adds Italian latino; Tiktin calls the etymology multiple. The Latin adjective is derived…
lătra
It is inherited from Latin lātrō (“to bark”). The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian alatru, Megleno-Romanian latru and Istro-Romanian lǫtru. Its Romance cognates include Italian latrare…
latură
Its origin is disputed. According to DEX, NODEX and MDA2 it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *latora (“sides”), a variant of Latin latera, the plural of latus (“side, flank”). Pușcariu…
lături
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lavatūra (“washing water”) in the plural, *lavatūrae, a derivative of Latin lavō (“to wash”); the singular is lătură “dishwater”. Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu…
laudă
It is a back-formation from Romanian lăuda (“to praise”). The verb continues Latin laudō (“to praise”). Tiktin and Ciorănescu leave open whether the noun is formed on the verb or continues inherited…
lăuda
It is inherited from Latin laudō (“to praise”). The Latin verb is formed on laus (“praise”). Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, and the REW give the same source. The verb survives south of the…
laur
It is inherited from Latin laurus (“laurel, bay”). In the inherited word the name passed to a quite different plant, the thorn apple (“Datura stramonium”), the sense the REW gives for Romanian…
lăuruscă
It is inherited from Latin labrusca (“wild vine”). Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW and the DA give the same etymon. The origin of the Latin word is unknown; Nocentini takes it for a loan…
lecție
It is borrowed from Latin lēctiō (“reading”), also borrowed from German Lektion (“lesson”). Ciorănescu derives it from Latin with the pronunciation of the German word, of the 19th century, and…
lega
1. The verb for tying and binding is inherited from Latin ligō (“to tie, bind”). Wiktionary traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind”). It survives in all four branches…
legământ
It is inherited from Latin ligāmentum (“band, bandage”), the view of Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu, the DA, DEX and MDA2. Ciorănescu, and the REW as a second possibility, take it instead as a…
legăna
It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *liginō (“to tie up”), formed on Latin ligō (“to tie, bind”). Pușcariu proposed this etymon, and Tiktin and the REW explain the meaning from the peasant…
legătură
It is inherited from Late Latin ligātūra (“a band, binding”). Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the Academy dictionary also take it straight from Latin, while Ciorănescu lists it among the…
lege
It is inherited from Latin lēx (“law”), from the accusative lēgem, a word kept by the Romance languages. The Aromanian cognate is leage. The Romance cognates include Italian legge, French loi…
legitim
It is borrowed from Latin lēgitimus (“lawful”) and French légitime; the dictionaries differ in the weight they give each. Tiktin and Scriban give only the Latin word, the DA and CADE take it after…
legumă
It is inherited from Latin legūmen (“pulse, leguminous plant”). Its Romance cognates include Italian legume, Portuguese legume, Old French leun and Spanish legumbre. The Latin word is of uncertain…
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…
lichid
It is borrowed from Latin liquidus (“fluid, clear”), with French liquide as a second source: DLR, Tiktin, DEX and the neologism dictionaries name both. MDA2 adds Italian liquido, while DER and…
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…
literatură
It is borrowed from Latin litteratura, with French littérature as a second source: DLR, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries name both, DEX puts French first, and Tiktin gives French alone. Scriban…
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…