Romanian words from Latin
2429 Romanian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 34).
sec
It is inherited from Latin siccus (“dry”), a word kept across the Romance languages. Pușcariu (no. 1569) and the REW (no. 7897) list it among the inherited words. Wiktionary traces the Latin…
secăciune
It is probably inherited from Latin siccātiō (“a drying”), as DEX, Tiktin, Scriban and Șăineanu have it. The Latin noun is built on siccō (“to dry”) with the suffix -tiō. Ciorănescu reports that…
secară
It is inherited from Latin secāle (“rye”). The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian sicarã, Megleno-Romanian sicară and Istro-Romanian secǫrę. Ciorănescu compares Venetian segala, Italian…
secera
The Academy dictionaries take the verb from Latin: it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sicilō (“to reap with a sickle”), a verb formed on sicilis (“sickle”). Tiktin compares Friulian sezelâ and…
seceră
It is inherited from Latin sicilis (“sickle”), in the form with two short vowels, ⟨sĭcĭlis⟩, that the Romance languages presuppose. The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian seațiră (spelled…
secetă
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *siccita (“dryness, drought”), a form of siccitās (“dryness, drought”) made on its nominative. Pușcariu compared iuventa beside iuventās (“youth”), and the REW…
secol
It is borrowed from Latin saeculum (“generation, lifetime, century”), and also borrowed from Italian secolo; DEX, MDA2, DLR and the neologism dictionaries give both sources. Scriban takes the older…
secret
It is borrowed from French secret, and at the same time borrowed from Latin sēcrētus, the two sources DEX, MDA2, the DLR, MDN and DILF give. Marcu and Maneca name the Latin noun sēcrētum and compare…
secretar
It is borrowed from Medieval Latin secrētārius and French secrétaire: MDA2 and the DLR name both, Tiktin and Scriban the Latin word, DEX and Wiktionary the French. The Latin noun, first found in the…
secure
It is inherited from Latin secūris (“axe”), a noun related to secō (“to cut”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian secure, Megleno-Romanian sicuri and Istro-Romanian secure. Its Romance…
securitate
It is a learned loan, borrowed from Latin sēcūritās and French sécurité: MDA2, the DLR and DEX name both sources, Latin first. Tiktin gives only the Latin word, and Wiktionary only the French one…
ședea
It is inherited from Latin sedeō (“to sit”). The Latin verb comes from *sed- (“to sit”). The verb survives in all four branches: Aromanian șed, Megleno-Romanian șǒd and Istro-Romanian șed. Its…
semăna
1. The word for “to sow” is inherited from Latin sēminō (“to sow”), from sēmen (“seed”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian seamin, Megleno-Romanian sęmin and Istro-Romanian semiru. Its…
semn
It is inherited from Latin signum (“mark, sign”). It survives in Aromanian semnu and Megleno-Romanian semn. Its Romance cognates include Italian segno, Occitan senh, Old French seing, Catalan senya…
senator
It is borrowed from Latin senātor, with French sénateur as a second model. The word was in use in the 17th century, and Tiktin and Scriban give only the Latin source; MDA2 adds Russian сенатор…
senin
It is inherited from Latin serēnus (“clear, unclouded”). Ciorănescu notes that the assimilation of /r/ to the following /n/ is recent, and the Transylvanian forms serin and sărin do not have it…
sentiment
It is borrowed from French sentiment, and DLR, MDA2 and NODEX add a direct borrowed from Medieval Latin sentimentum, while DEX, MDN and DILF give only French. Tiktin, Scriban and DN name Italian…
sentință
It is borrowed from Latin sententia (“way of thinking, opinion; judgement”) and at the same time borrowed from French sentence: the DLR, DEX and MDA2 name both sources. Tiktin gives Latin and…
senzație
It is borrowed from French sensation, and it is also borrowed from Late Latin sēnsātiō (“understanding”), as DEX, MDA2, MDN and the DLR give it; Wiktionary names only French. The DLR explains the…
șerb
It is inherited from Latin servus (“slave”), with the feminine from serva. Latin /w/ became /b/ here, as the Lexicon de la Buda already noted. The Romance cognates are Italian servo, Portuguese…
serba
It is inherited from Latin servō (“to watch, keep, observe”), with the Latin sense “to observe” narrowed to keeping a holy day. Its Romance cognates are Italian serbare “to keep, store”, Sardinian…
serviciu
It is borrowed from French service (“service”), and also borrowed from Latin servitium (“slavery, service”). MDA2, DEX, DLRM and Wiktionary name both sources, and Tiktin names French as the model…
servitor
It is borrowed from French serviteur, as DEX and MDA2 give it. DLR, NODEX and the neologism dictionaries also name borrowed from Late Latin servītor, and Marcu and Maneca add Italian servitore, an…
șes
It is inherited from Latin sessus (“seat, sitting”), a noun formed on sedeō (“to sit”). Tiktin and the DLR treat it as the past participle of the same verb. The Latin noun is recorded only once, in…
sesiune
It is borrowed from Latin sessio (“a sitting”), with French session as a second model. MDA2 adds Russian сессия (sessija) as a third model, and DLR compares the Russian word for the variant sesie…
sete
It is inherited from Latin sitis (“thirst”). De Vaan derives the Latin word from Proto-Indo-European *dʰgʷʰítis (“destruction, perishing”): the initial cluster was reordered in the prehistory of…
seu
It is inherited from Latin sēbum (“tallow, suet”), a word inherited across Romance. It survives in all four branches: Aromanian seu, Megleno-Romanian seu and Istro-Romanian sew. Its Romance cognates…
sever
It is borrowed from French sévère and directly borrowed from Latin sevērus (“stern, strict”). Marcu and Maneca add Italian severo, Scriban names only Latin. The French word is itself borrowed from…
sex
It is borrowed from French sexe, at the same time borrowed from Latin sexus, one of the learned words of the 19th century. DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin give both sources, while Scriban and…
sexual
It is borrowed from French sexuel, with Latin sexuālis beside it, according to DEX, MDA2, MDN and the DLR; Scriban gives only the Latin, and Wiktionary analyses the word as from Romanian sex + -ual…
sfârteca
DEX takes it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *exfracticō, from fractus (“broken”), an etymology Ciorănescu credits to Candrea. Ciorănescu treats it as a derivative of sfert “quarter”, comparing…
sfâșia
Its origin is disputed. The Academy dictionaries and DEX take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *exfasciō, a verb formed on fasciō (“to wrap in bands”), from fascia (“band, strip”). Ciorănescu lists…
și
It is inherited from Latin sīc (“thus, so, in this way”). The Oxford Latin Dictionary explains the Latin adverb as the locative of an old demonstrative stem with the particle -ce. In Romanian the…
simbol
It is borrowed from Latin symbolum, with French symbole and German Symbol as further models: DEX and MDA2 give it this multiple origin, MDA2 and the DLR with the Latin form symbolus and with Modern…
simplu
It is borrowed from French simple, first recorded in 1814. The French word is from Latin simplex (“made of one element; plain, artless”), literally “folded once”, a compound of a root of unity and…
simți
It is inherited from Latin sentiō (“to feel, perceive”). The Latin verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”). De Vaan relates it to Lithuanian sintėti (“to think”) and to Germanic and…
sine
It is inherited from Latin sē (“himself, herself, themselves”), remodelled on mine and tine so that the stressed form would not be a monosyllable. Ciorănescu compares Latin sēsē and Spanish consigo…
sinec
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *senicus, a derivative of senex (“old man”). The REW cites the Old Romanian form ⟨sinrecu⟩ beside Occitan senec “old” and the Campidanese Sardinian senega in a…
singur
It is inherited from Latin singulus (“one each, single, alone”). It survives in Aromanian singur and Megleno-Romanian singur. Its Romance relatives are few and scattered: Dalmatian sanglo (“alone”)…
sinucide
It is a compound from Romanian sine (“oneself”) + ucide (“to kill”), modelled on French se suicider. ucide is from Latin occīdō (“to kill”). MDN gives only the French model.
șiră
DEX and MDA2 take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *sira, which MDA2 derives from Modern Greek σειρά (seirá, “row, line”). Ciorănescu treats it as a derivative of șir “row, line”, which he takes…
siripă
It is inherited from Latin sināpis (“mustard”), the Latin word for mustard. Latin sināpi was borrowed from Ancient Greek σίναπι (sínāpi). The Latin word survives across Romance, for example in…
smicura
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *exmiculō (“to crumble”), a verb formed on micula (“crumb”), the diminutive of mīca (“grain, crumb”). Ciorănescu gives this Latin verb as one of two possibilities…
smulge
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *exmulgō, formed with ex- on Latin mulgeō (“to milk”). Wiktionary also allows a change of prefix in ēmulgeō (“to milk out”). The old participle smult continues…
soacră
It is inherited from Late Latin socra, a popular form beside classical Latin socrus (“mother-in-law”). Ciorănescu lists it under the masculine socru. The Latin noun comes from Proto-Indo-European…
soage
It is inherited from Latin subigō (“to work through, knead”), the source given by Pușcariu, the REW, Ciorănescu, the DLR and Wiktionary; Tiktin calls it probable. The Latin verb is a compound of…
soare
It is inherited from Latin sōl (“sun”). The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian soare, Megleno-Romanian soari and…
șoarece
It is inherited from Latin sōrex (“shrew-mouse”), continued in its accusative sōricem. The Latin word has no secure etymology: de Vaan relates it to Ancient Greek ὕραξ (húrax, “shrew-mouse”) and…
soartă
It is inherited from Latin sors (“lot; fate”). The older form, now archaic, is soarte. The masculine sorț was made from the plural ⟨sorți⟩, understood as a masculine. The Latin noun goes back to…
soc
The word for the elder is inherited from Latin sabūcus (“elder tree”), the old form without the nasal, for sambūcus. The origin of the Latin word is unknown. Pușcariu found the sound development…
social
It is borrowed from French social and also borrowed from Latin sociālis (“of a companion or ally, social”): DEX, MDA2 and the DLR name French and Latin, and for MDA2, the DLR, NODEX and Marcu &…
societate
It is borrowed from French société and directly borrowed from Latin societās (“fellowship, association”), as DEX and MDA2 give it. MDA2, DN and the DLR add Italian società. Wiktionary takes the…
socoti
Its origin is uncertain. The Academy dictionaries and NODEX derive it inherited from Latin succutiō (“to shake up, toss up”). Tiktin reports this derivation from Coseriu. An older view, held by…
socru
It is inherited from Late Latin socrus (“father-in-law”), the form recorded by Consentius in place of Classical socer. In Classical Latin that form was the feminine, meaning “mother-in-law”; the…
solar
It is borrowed from French solaire and directly borrowed from Latin sōlāris (“of the sun”), the two sources DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries name. Tiktin gives the Latin word and Italian…
solid
1. The word for the coin is borrowed from Latin solidus, the Roman and Byzantine gold coin. The Latin coin name is the adjective meaning “solid, of the same material throughout”, used as a noun…
soluție
It is borrowed from French solution and directly borrowed from Latin solūtiō (“a loosening; a solution”), a neologism with two sources. Wiktionary gives only French. The Latin noun is formed on…
solz
The origin is disputed. DEX and MDA2 derive it this way: it is inherited from Late Latin soldus (“gold coin”), the contracted form of solidus, and a Romanian ⟨*soldu⟩ had the plural ⟨*soldzi⟩, from…
somn
1. The word for the sheatfish is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic сомъ (somŭ). Ciorănescu cites the Russian form, and MDA2 compares Ukrainian сом (som), Serbo-Croatian сом (som) and Bulgarian сом…
sonor
It is borrowed from French sonore. DEX 2009, DN and MDN add a second source, borrowed from Latin sonōrus (“full of sound, loud”), which Scriban gave as the only source. The French adjective is…