Romanian words from Latin
2429 Romanian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 30).
prim
In its modern use it is borrowed from Latin prīmus (“first”), with French prime as a second model in the DLR. Ciorănescu calls the modern senses a neologism, but thinks the word may also have been…
primar
The old adjective is inherited from Latin prīmārius (“one of the first; principal”). Candrea and Densusianu explain the vowel /i/ of the first syllable, where the old ⟨premar⟩ shows the regular /e/…
primăvară
It is inherited from Late Latin prīma vēra (“early spring”), a Late Latin feminine noun made from the plural of prīmum vēr, literally “first spring”, and recorded in Late Latin glosses. Its parts…
primez
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *permedium, from the Latin phrase per medium (“through the middle”). Candrea–Densusianu compare French parmi and Italian tramezzo (“partition wall”), and the old…
principal
It is borrowed from Latin prīncipālis (“first, chief”) and also borrowed from French principal: DLR names Latin, French and Italian principale, MDA2 these and German, DEX, MDN and DILF French and…
principiu
It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin principium (“beginning, origin”). The Academy dictionaries name several sources at once, Latin, Italian principio and French principe, and MDA2 and the…
prinde
It is inherited from Latin prēndō (“to take, seize”), the contracted form of prehendō. Candrea and Densusianu note that the contraction is early, and that the ⟨n⟩ before ⟨s⟩ of the past tense and…
privat
It is borrowed from Latin prīvātus (“private, personal”), partly by way of French privé. DEX, MDN and Tiktin name French and Latin, Scriban and DN give Latin, MDA2 adds German privat, and Wiktionary…
priveghea
It is inherited from Latin pervigilō (“to stay awake all night”), with the syncopated Vulgar Latin form *perviglō. The Latin verb is formed with per- on vigilō (“to stay awake”), which gave the…
privilegiu
It is borrowed from Latin privilegium: Tiktin and the DLR take it from Latin, the DLR comparing Italian privilegio and French privilège, while DEX and MDA2 name French and Latin and Wiktionary…
probă
It is borrowed from Late Latin proba (“test, proof”), which Ciorănescu sees coming through Polish próba, Hungarian próba and German Probe. Wiktionary gives the same Late Latin source, partly through…
probabil
It is borrowed from Latin probābilis (“worthy of approval; credible”), partly borrowed from French probable, with Italian probabile as a further model: MDA2 and the DLR give all three, DEX the…
proceda
It is borrowed from French procéder, the source DEX names, and directly borrowed from Latin prōcēdō (“to go forward”). MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin add Italian procedere, so that Romanian dictionaries…
produce
It is borrowed from Latin prōdūcō (“to lead forth, bring forth”), with some senses after French produire. Tiktin also takes it from Latin, partly through other languages. Ciorănescu derives it from…
profesor
It is borrowed from Latin professor (“public teacher”), together with French professeur and German Professor. The DLR and MDA2 name all three, as does Wiktionary; DEX 2009 gives French and German…
profund
It is borrowed from Latin profundus (“deep”), with French profond as a second model: MDA2, the DLR, DEX, MDN and Tiktin name both, while Scriban and DN give the Latin word and DN compares Italian…
progres
It is borrowed from Latin prōgressus (“a going forward”), with Italian progresso and French progrès as further models, the three sources of MDA2 and the DLR. DEX 2009 names the French and the Latin…
proiect
It is borrowed from German Projekt, and at the same time a learned borrowed from Latin prōiectus (“thrown forward”) (DEX, MDA2, the DLR, the neologism dictionaries), with French projet also named as…
promisiune
It is borrowed from French promission and also borrowed from Latin prōmissiō (“a promising, promise”), a 19th-century learned word: MDA2, the DLR and the dictionaries of neologisms give both…
promite
It is borrowed from Latin prōmittō (“to send forward, to promise”) and French promettre: DEX, MDA2, the DLR, DILF and Marcu's MDN name both words. Marcu & Maneca's DN gives the Latin verb and…
proprietate
It is borrowed from Latin proprietas (“a peculiar quality; ownership”), also borrowed from French propriété. MDA2 and DLR also name Italian proprietà, and Tiktin gives New Latin and Italian…
propriu
It is borrowed from Latin proprius (“one's own, particular”), with French propre and Italian proprio as further models. Ciorănescu gives only the French word, and the dictionaries of neologisms put…
propune
It is borrowed from Latin prōpōnō (“to put forward, propose”), together with borrowed from French proposer, conjugated like pune. Tiktin gives the neo-Latin verb alone, and Marcu takes the Latin…
protecție
The dictionaries give several sources. In DEX it is borrowed from Latin prōtectiō and French protection. MDA2 and the DLR add Russian протекция (protekcija). Tiktin gives New Latin and French, and…
protector
It is a learned borrowed from Latin prōtēctor, also through French protecteur, as DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin give it. The Latin noun is formed on prōtegō (“to protect, defend”) with the agent…
proteja
It is borrowed from French protéger, with borrowed from Latin prōtegō (“to cover in front, shelter”) named beside it by most dictionaries. MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin also name Italian proteggere. The…
protest
Tiktin, MDA2, the DLR and NODEX give two sources: it is borrowed from New Latin protestum, and also borrowed from Italian protesto. Marcu and Maneca give only the Italian word, while Scriban gives…
prun
It is inherited from Latin prūnus (“plum tree”). Ciorănescu also cites Candrea–Densusianu and the REW for this etymology. The Latin word is from Ancient Greek προύνη (proúnē), itself a loan from a…
prună
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *prūna (“plum”), the neuter plural of Latin prūnum (“plum”) taken as a feminine singular. Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of prun “plum tree”, but allows…
prunc
Its origin is uncertain; DEX calls it unknown. The view most dictionaries follow is Pușcariu's: inherited from Vulgar Latin *puerunculus (“little boy”), a diminutive of puer (“boy, child”), from…
public
It is borrowed from French public, and MDA2, DLR, MDN and NODEX add a direct borrowed from Latin publicus (“of the people, public”). Wiktionary gives French, itself from Latin, and DER names only…
publicitate
It is borrowed from French publicité, as all the dictionaries say. Laurian and Massim also name Italian publicità beside the French word. The French word is from Medieval Latin pūblicitātem, formed…
pucios
It is formed from Romanian puți (“to stink”) + -os. Tiktin compares the formation of cuvios and sperios from cuveni and speria. Ciorănescu also derives it from the verb, probably in place of an…
pui
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pulleus, a popular form of Latin pullus (“young of an animal, chick”). DER follows Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW in this, and compares Lombard pui…
pulă
It is probably inherited from Latin pulla (“hen, female chick”), the feminine of pullus (“young animal, chick”). Ciorănescu follows Crețu and Candrea and Densusianu here. For the shift from a bird…
pulbere
It is inherited from Latin pulverem (“dust”), the accusative case of the Latin noun. Aromanian has pulbire. The Romance cognates include Dalmatian pulvro, Italian polvere, Occitan poldra, French…
pulpă
It is inherited from Latin pulpa (“fleshy part of the body, lean meat”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian pulpă, Megleno-Romanian pulpă and Istro-Romanian pupę. Its cognates include…
pulpos
It is formed from Romanian pulpă (“calf of the leg; pulp”) + -os. Candrea–Densusianu, Cihac and Șăineanu see it instead as inherited from Latin pulpōsus (“fleshy”), and the REW lists the Romanian…
puls
It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin pulsus (“a beating, stroke”), and it is also borrowed from French pouls; the DLR and MDA2 add German Puls and Italian polso as further models. Tiktin…
pumn
It is inherited from Latin pugnus (“fist”). The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian pulmu, Megleno-Romanian pulm and Istro-Romanian pumnu. The Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian forms were…
punct
It is borrowed from Latin pūnctum (“puncture; point”). Ciorănescu and Wiktionary date the loan to the 18th century, and Tiktin says it came in partly by way of other languages. For some of its…
pune
It is inherited from Latin pōnō (“to put, place”). The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *posinō, a compound of a prefix *po- and the verb that gave sinō (“to let”). The word survives in all four…
punte
It is inherited from Latin pontem (“bridge”). DER cites Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW. De Vaan traces the Latin word, which also meant “plank”, to a Proto-Italic stem and a…
pupa
In DEX, MDA2 and the DLR it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *puppō (“to suck”), a verb from *puppa (“teat, breast”). Pușcariu proposed this etymon in 1905, and Candrea and Densusianu compare Italian…
pur
1. The word for the sand leek is inherited from Latin porrum (“leek”), with an unexpected /u/: Tiktin notes that this vowel is found nowhere else. DEX gives the Latin word only with a “compare”. The…
purcea
It is inherited from Late Latin porcella (“female piglet”), the feminine of porcellus (“piglet”), a diminutive of porcus (“pig”). The REW lists it with Italian porcella beside the masculine purcel…
purcede
It is inherited from Latin prōcēdō (“to go forward, advance”). Ciorănescu also cites Pușcariu and the REW, and notes after Rosetti that of the Romance languages only Romanian kept the verb. The…
purcel
It is inherited from Latin porcellus (“piglet”), a diminutive of porcus (“pig”). It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian purțel, Megleno-Romanian purțoi and Istro-Romanian porce. Its Romance…
purica
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pūlicō (“to catch fleas”), from pūlex (“flea”). DEX 2009 gives the Latin verb as probable. Ciorănescu cites Densusianu, Pușcariu and Candrea–Densusianu for this…
purice
It is inherited from Latin pūlicem (“flea”), the accusative of the Latin noun. It survives in all four branches: Aromanian puric, Megleno-Romanian puric and Istro-Romanian purec. Its Romance…
puroi
It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *pūrōnium, formed on Latin pūs (“pus”), the view of Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, Tiktin and Rosetti; Ciorănescu, who reports it, still calls the…
purta
It is inherited from Latin portō (“to carry, bring”). De Vaan derives the Latin verb from a noun meaning “passage, crossing” or a participle “passed, crossed”, from the root of *per- (“to go…
purtător
It is formed from Romanian purta (“to carry”) + -ător. The verb is from Latin portō (“to carry”). The REW lists it among the continuations of portātor (“carrier”), with Italian portatore, French…
pururi
Its origin is unknown. The Academy's dictionaries take it as probably inherited from Latin pūrus (“pure, clean”), an etymology Pușcariu proposed and the REW accepted with a question mark. Tiktin…
puț
It is inherited from Latin puteus (“well, pit”). Wiktionary links the Latin word with Proto-Indo-European *paw- (“to strike”); de Vaan finds this impossible because of the short ⟨u⟩, and thinks the…
putea
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *potēre (“to be able”), the popular form that replaced classical posse by analogy. The verb survives in all four branches of Romanian: Aromanian pot…
putere
It is the long infinitive of putea, formed from Romanian putea + -re. The verb is from Vulgar Latin *potēre, the analogical form that replaced Latin possum (“to be able”) in spoken Latin. The verb…
puți
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pūtiō (“to stink”), with a change of conjugation from pūteō (“to stink, to rot”). The Latin verb is related to pūs (“pus”). Megleno-Romanian has put. The same…
puțin
It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *putīnus (“small”), a form Wiktionary explains as a blend or alteration of Latin pisinnus (“tiny; a little child”) and pitinnus with putillus and pusillus…
putină
DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *putina, a reconstructed Latin form; Candrea, followed by the REW, traces it to Ancient Greek πυτίνη (putínē, “wicker-covered flask”)…