Romanian words from Latin
1808 Romanian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 5).
calendar
It is borrowed from New Latin calendārium, a learned word with several possible sources, a case of what Romanian lexicography calls multiple etymology: DELR names the Latin word, Modern Greek…
căluș
It is formed from Romanian cal + -uș, a diminutive of “horse”, literally “little horse”. Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of the noun for the horse, which is from Latin caballus (“horse”)…
cam
It is probably inherited from Latin quam (“how, as”), the source of ca as well. DELR gives can as the oldest form: Latin final /m/ became /n/ in monosyllables, as in French rien from rem, Italian…
cămașă
It is inherited from Late Latin camisia (“shirt”). The Latin word appears late, first in Jerome, and is held to be a borrowing from Gaulish or from Germanic, Wiktionary deriving it from Proto-West…
câmp
It is inherited from Latin campus (“plain, field”), a word inherited across the Romance languages. DELR adds that the modern senses in physics, military language, technology and linguistics follow…
când
It is inherited from Latin quandō (“when”), a word kept throughout Romance. It survives as Aromanian cãndu, Megleno-Romanian cǫn and Istro-Romanian căn, and its Romance cognates include Italian…
cânepă
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *canapa, the spoken form of Latin cannabis (“hemp”). DELR writes it without a star, as an attested Latin canapa. Ciorănescu notes that Italian canapa confirms the…
cânt
It is a back-formation from Romanian cânta (“to sing”), as Tiktin, the DEX and DELR explain it; Ciorănescu and DELR add that the noun was shaped on Italian canto and French chant. The verb is from…
cânta
It is inherited from Latin cantō (“to sing”), the frequentative of canō (“to sing”), and is found throughout the Romance languages. It survives in all four branches: Aromanian cântu…
cântător
It is formed from Romanian cânta + -ător, the verbal adjective and agent noun of the verb “to sing”. Wiktionary compares Latin cantātor (“singer”), which it may continue. The verb is from Latin…
cântec
It is inherited from Latin canticum (“song”). It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian cãntic and Megleno-Romanian cǫntic. The REW records the inherited word only in Romanian and Aromanian, where…
canură
It is inherited from Latin cannula (“small reed”), a diminutive of canna (“reed”), itself from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”). Papahagi based this on the Aromanian sense “reed spool wound with…
cap
1. The word for the head is inherited from Latin caput (“head”), a word kept by all the Romance languages. Pușcariu and Ciorănescu start from a popular form *capum, remade as a noun of the second…
căpăstru
It is inherited from Latin capistrum (“halter, headstall”), a word that survives across the Romance languages. It survives in all four branches: Aromanian cãpestru, Megleno-Romanian căpestru and…
căpăta
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *capitō (“to take, to come to the end”), a verb the sources reconstruct; the compound incapitō is recorded in the Latin glossaries. Most authorities, from Diez and…
căpătâi
It is inherited from Late Latin capitāneum, the neuter of capitāneus (“of the head, chief”), from caput (“head”). It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian cãpitãnj and Megleno-Romanian căpiton…
căpățână
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *capitīna, a derivative of caput (“head”). DELR gives this as the main view, after Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW, the DA and the DEX, and compares…
căpețel
DEX, MDA2, the DA and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Late Latin capitellum (“little head”), a diminutive of caput (“head”). The REW lists the Romanian word under that etymon with Italian…
căpistere
It is inherited from Latin capisterium (“a vessel for cleaning grain”). Candrea and Densusianu and Papahagi start from a Latin *capisteria, the neuter plural taken as a feminine, and Wiktionary too…
capră
It is inherited from Latin capra (“she-goat”), the feminine of caper (“he-goat”). The Latin word is found throughout the Romance languages, and DÉRom reconstructs it for Proto-Romance. The Latin…
căprar
1. The word for the goatherd is inherited from Latin caprārius (“goatherd”). The Latin noun is formed on caper (“goat”) with the suffix -ārius, and Varro and Columella already use it for a goatherd…
căprină
It is inherited from Latin caprīna, the feminine of caprīnus (“of goats”). DELR compares the Italian, Old French and Occitan continuations of the Latin word. The REW lists Italian caprina “goat…
căprioară
It is inherited from Late Latin capreola, the feminine of Latin capreolus (“roe deer”). DEX, MDA2 and NODEX give the Latin form as capriola. Ciorănescu instead takes it as a Romanian derivative of…
căprior
It is inherited from Latin capreolus (“roe deer; rafter”). DEX gives the Latin form as capriolus. The Latin word is formed on caprea (“roe deer”) with the diminutive suffix -olus, and it already…
car
1. The word for the woodworm is inherited from Latin carius, a glossary word naming a creature also called tinea, beside cariēs (“rot, decay”). Pușcariu and Candrea–Densusianu start from the former…
căra
It is usually explained as inherited from Vulgar Latin *carrō (“to carry by cart”), a verb formed on carrus (“wagon”). DELR also records the view of Scriban's dictionary that Romanian formed the…
cărâie
For Ciorănescu it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *carōnia (“carrion”), the source of Italian carogna, French charogne and Spanish carroña, which all mean “carcass”. The Vulgar Latin noun is formed…
carâmb
Its origin is uncertain. DEX, MDA2, Wiktionary and the DA, following Pușcariu, derive it: it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *calamulus, a diminutive of calamus (“reed, stalk, pole”), which is from…
cărare
It is inherited from Latin carrāria (“cart road”), short for via carrāria, from carrus (“cart, wagon”). The Latin word for “cart” is of Celtic origin. The word survives in Aromanian as cărare, also…
cărbunar
Ciorănescu, DELR and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Latin carbōnārius (“charcoal burner”), following Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW and the DA. The Latin noun is formed on carbō…
cărbune
It is inherited from Latin carbo (“charcoal”), from the accusative carbōnem. The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian cãrbuni, Megleno-Romanian cărbuni and Istro-Romanian cârbur. Its…
care
It is inherited from Latin quālis (“of what kind”). In the Romance languages it competed with quī (“who, which”) and became a plain relative and interrogative pronoun. The pronoun survives in all…
cărindar
It is inherited from Latin calendārius (“of the calends”), understood with mēnsis (“month”), as Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the DA and DEX give it. Wiktionary writes the Latin source as…
cârnat
It is inherited from Latin carnācius (“of meat”), a derivative of carō (“meat”) (old nominative carnis); Ciorănescu, the DLRM and CADE write it as a reconstructed Vulgar Latin *carnāceus. The…
carne
It is inherited from Latin carō (“flesh, meat”), in its accusative form carnem. The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian carni, Megleno-Romanian carni and Istro-Romanian cårne. Aromanian…
cârneleagă
It is inherited from Latin carnem ligat (“it binds the meat”), a phrase formed on carō (“meat”) and ligō (“to bind”). The verb has the sense “forbid”, as Romanian lega does, against dezlega “allow”…
cărnos
It is inherited from Latin carnōsus (“fleshy”), as nearly all the dictionaries give it. Ciorănescu also allows a Romanian formation on carne with the suffix -os. The Latin adjective is formed on…
cârpător
DEX, DLRM, MDA2, Ciorănescu and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Latin coopertōrium (“covering”), formed on cooperiō (“to cover”). Ciorănescu cites Pușchilă and Pușcariu for it, and the REW…
carpen
It is inherited from Latin carpinus (“hornbeam”), with a short /i/, as Tiktin notes. The Latin word is shared by the Romance languages: Italian carpino and carpine, French charme, Spanish carpe and…
carte
It is inherited from Latin charta (“papyrus leaf, paper; letter”), a word found in all the Romance languages. The Romanian form was rebuilt from the plural ⟨cărți⟩ of an older singular *cartă, on…
cărunt
It is inherited from Late Latin cānūtus (“grey”), a popular Latin form beside cānus (“white, grey”). Wiktionary analyses it as the adjective with the suffix -ūtus, and notes that it is attested in…
căruță
Most dictionaries derive it from car (“cart, wagon”): DLRM, NODEX and MDA2 form it from Romanian car + -uță, and DEX gives only the base noun. Graur (1963) points out that Romanian has no other…
caș
It is inherited from Latin cāseus (“cheese”), also cāseum. The Latin word has no agreed etymology; de Vaan regards it as unknown and perhaps a loan. It survives in all four branches: Aromanian caș…
casă
1. The word for a house is inherited from Latin casa (“hut, cottage”). The DA notes that in Vulgar Latin the word took the general sense of house, replacing domus and aedes. The origin of the Latin…
câșlegi
Most dictionaries trace it to a Latin phrase, inherited from Latin cāseum ligat (“(he) ties up the cheese”), that is, he gives up cheese. Tiktin preferred the imperative cāseum ligā (“tie up the…
câștiga
It is inherited from Latin castīgō (“to reprimand, to punish; to restrain”), which Ciorănescu derives from castus (“pure, chaste”). The other Romance languages kept the senses of correcting and…
cășuna
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *occāsiōnō, a verb formed on occāsiō (“opportunity, chance”). Ciorănescu, following Ascoli and Pușcariu, thinks the form was changed early to *accāsiōnō by a…
cât
It is inherited from Latin quantus (“how great, how much”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian cãt, Megleno-Romanian cǫt and Istro-Romanian cât. Its Romance cognates include Italian quanto…
cățân
It is inherited from Latin catīnum (“bowl, dish”), a form of catīnus. Ciorănescu cites Candrea and Densusianu, the REW and Pascu for it. The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian cãtsãn…
cățea
It is inherited from Latin catella (“little bitch”), the feminine of catellus (“puppy”). The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian cãtsauã and Megleno-Romanian cățăuă. Portuguese cadela has…
cățel
It is inherited from Latin catellus (“puppy, little dog”), a diminutive of catulus (“whelp, young dog”). The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian cãtsãl and Megleno-Romanian cătsǫl. Its…
cătină
The origin is uncertain. DELR, the DA, DEX and MDA2 take it as inherited from Latin catēna (“chain”), a word that survives in every Romance language with the sense “chain”. The DA explains the shift…
cătinel
The etymology is uncertain. For the older form cătelin Pușcariu proposed inherited from Vulgar Latin *cautēlīnus (“cautious”) or *cautēlēnus, built on cautēla (“precaution”); the regular outcome…
către
It is inherited from Latin contrā (“opposite, against”). DELR takes cătră as the original form, which took its final /e/ under the influence of între, while cătă lost its /r/ by dissimilation in…
cauc
1. The word for the cap is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish قاوق (kavuk, “tall padded cap”). The word spread in the Balkans: Ciorănescu and Șăineanu compare Albanian kauk, Serbo-Croatian kauk and…
căuta
It is inherited from Latin, but its exact source is disputed; MDA2, DEX and Papahagi trace it to a form built on cautus. According to them it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cautō (“to take care”)…
cauză
It is a learned loan, borrowed from Latin causa (“cause, reason, lawsuit”), with French cause as a second model. Ciorănescu names only the Latin word and places the loan in the 19th century, Tiktin…
caz
It is a learned borrowed from Latin cāsus (“a fall; chance, event, case”), the source DELR, MDA2, DLR and Tiktin name, taken partly with the senses of French cas, which DA, DEX and Tiktin add…
ce
It is inherited from Latin quid (“what”), which survives in every Romance language. The Latin word comes from Proto-Indo-European *kʷid. DELR adds that as a relative pronoun and adjective it also…
ceapă
It is inherited from Latin cēpa (“onion”) (also spelled caepa). The Latin word is probably a loan from an unknown language; a Greek gloss Ancient Greek κάπια (kápia, “onions”) may reflect the same…