Romanian words from Latin
1862 Romanian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 7).
comânji
Its origin is uncertain. According to Philippide it is inherited from Latin commingō (“to defile with urine”), from con- and mingō (“to urinate”), shaped in form and sense by mânji “to soil”…
conduce
It is borrowed from Latin condūcō (“to bring together, gather, (late) to lead”), a learned borrowing that took on the senses of French conduire. The Latin verb is formed con- and dūcō (“to lead”)…
contact
It is borrowed from French contact, with borrowed from Latin contactus (“touch”) as a second source, as DELR, DEX, DN, MDN, MDA2 and Tiktin give it. Wiktionary gives only the French noun, Scriban…
conteni
DELR takes it as inherited from Latin contineō (“to hold together, keep in, restrain”), itself formed from con- and teneō (“to hold”), which moved early to the fourth conjugation of Romanian verbs…
continua
It is borrowed from French continuer (“to continue”), together with its own source, borrowed from Latin continuō (“to join together, continue”). DELR calls the Latin verb a learned borrowing, and…
continuu
It is borrowed from Latin continuus (“uninterrupted, continuous”), a learned borrowing, with French continu as a second model: DELR, DEX and MDA2 give both, while DER, Tiktin and Wiktionary name…
contract
It is borrowed from Latin contractus (“drawing together; transaction, contract”), a learned loan, as DELR, DEX and Tiktin give it, with borrowed from French contrat as a second model in DEX, MDA2…
convinge
It is borrowed from Latin convincō (“to overcome; to prove guilty”), with its conjugation brought into line with învinge: that is the view of DER, MDA2, DEX and Wiktionary. DELR takes it instead as…
coperământ
It is inherited from Latin cooperīmentum (“a covering”), a noun formed on cooperiō (“to cover”). Ciorănescu calls it without doubt a direct continuation of the Latin noun. It sits beside the verb…
coperi
It is inherited from Latin cooperiō (“to cover completely”), formed from co- and operiō (“to cover, close”). It is the older form of acoperi, which adds a prothetic ⟨a-⟩; DER notes that the two have…
coptură
It is inherited from Latin coctūra (“cooking”), a noun formed on coquō (“to cook”). The regular outcome would have been ⟨*cutură⟩; the ⟨-pt-⟩ was remade after the participle copt “baked, ripe”, as…
cor
It is borrowed from New Latin chorus, with French chœur as a second model, DELR's two sources; the Latin word is from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “round dance, band of dancers, choir”). The sources…
corb
It is inherited from Latin corvus (“raven”). The Latin /rv/ gave /rb/ here, as in the variant corbus that Candrea and Densusianu and Papahagi give and in Old Italian corbo. The Latin word is…
corect
It is borrowed from French correct. DEX, Marcu and DELR take it as also borrowed from Latin correctus (“corrected, improved”), the learned Latin word, and DELR names German korrekt as a third model…
corn
1. The word for the horn is inherited from Latin cornū (“horn”), from *ḱrn-o-, and cognate with the English word horn. It survives in all four branches: Aromanian cornu, Megleno-Romanian corn and…
cornut
It is inherited from Latin cornūtus (“horned”), an adjective formed on cornū (“horn”). It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian curnut. The Romance cognates include Italian cornuto, French…
coroană
It is borrowed from Medieval Latin corona (“crown”), a learned word, which the Academy dictionary DA thinks came in early through Hungarian korona or through Slavic, Bulgarian, Russian, Ruthenian or…
corună
The dictionaries treat it as a form of the words for “crown”: MDA2 and Tiktin send it to coroană, and the DA to both that word and cunună. Wiktionary takes it as probably a variant of the latter…
coș
1. The word for the basket is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic кошь (košĭ, “basket”). The Old Church Slavonic word comes from Proto-Slavic *košь, continued in Bulgarian кош (koš), Slovak kôš and…
cot
It is inherited from Latin cubitus (“elbow”): DELR derives the body part from it and the unit of length from cubitum (“cubit”). Ciorănescu, Pușcariu and the REW start from the neuter, which already…
Crăciun
The origin of the word has been debated for more than a century. The view most dictionaries give is inherited from Latin creātiō (“creation, begetting, birth”), from the accusative ⟨creātiōnem⟩…
crăpa
It is inherited from Latin crepō (“to rattle, crack”). Latin meant “to make a sharp noise”, which led to “to burst with a noise”, a sense rare in Latin but kept in the Romance languages. The word…
crăpătură
It is inherited from Late Latin crepātūra (“crack, fissure”), formed on crepō (“to crack, rattle”). Tiktin gives two views: a derivative of crăpa, or the Latin word. Ciorănescu lists it among the…
crea
It is borrowed from French créer and a learned borrowed from Latin creō (“to bring forth, produce”), as DELR, MDA2, DEX and the neologism dictionaries give it. Ciorănescu puts the Latin word first…
creastă
It is inherited from Latin crista (“crest, comb”). Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW for this etymology. De Vaan derives the Latin word from the stem *kris- (“crest, hair”)…
crede
It is inherited from Latin crēdō (“to believe, entrust”), a verb found throughout the Romance languages. The DÉRom reconstructs the Proto-Romance verb with the senses “to hold true”, “to trust” and…
credință
It is inherited from Late Latin crēdentia (“belief”), from crēdēns (“believing”), from crēdō (“to believe”). REW notes that a word formed in Romanian on crede would be ⟨crezință⟩, which points to…
creier
It is inherited from Latin, but the sound changes are irregular and not fully explained. Most sources take it as inherited from Latin cerebrum (“brain”) through a shortened *crebrum. DELR explains…
crește
It is inherited from Latin crēscō (“to grow, increase”). DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈkresk-e-/ “to grow; to make grow”. The Latin verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁- (“to grow…
creștin
It is inherited from Latin Chrīstiānus (“Christian”), from Chrīstus, which is from Ancient Greek Χριστός (Khristós, “anointed”), from χρίω (khríō, “to anoint”). The Greek word is a calque of the…
creștinătate
DELR first gives it as inherited from Late Latin chrīstiānitās (“Christianity, Christendom”), following Tiktin, Candrea–Densusianu, Pascu, the DA and the Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian dictionaries…
criminal
It is borrowed from French criminel and, as a learned loan, borrowed from Latin criminālis: DELR, DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary name both sources. The neologism dictionaries give the Latin word first and…
cruce
It is inherited from Latin crucem (“cross”), a word inherited by all the Romance languages. The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian crutse and Megleno-Romanian cruță. Its Romance cognates…
crud
It is inherited from Latin crūdus (“raw, bloody; cruel”), a word kept throughout Romance. DELR connects the Latin word with a root crū- “blood”, as in cruor (“blood”) and cruentus (“bloody”), so…
crunt
It is inherited from Latin cruentus (“bloody, blood-stained; cruel”). Tiktin compares the loss of the vowel with junc from iuvencus. The Latin adjective is built on the root of cruor (“blood”) and…
cu
It is inherited from Latin cum (“with”). The Latin preposition comes from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“next to, at, with”). The preposition survives in all four branches: Aromanian cu…
cuc
Most dictionaries take it as inherited from Late Latin cucus or cuccus, a word imitating the bird's call. Because it imitates a sound, its consonants stayed unchanged everywhere. DELR is more…
cuceri
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *conquaerō (“to seek out, obtain”), with a change to the fourth conjugation, from conquaerō, a late remaking of Classical conquīrō (“to search out and collect”)…
cucui
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cucullium, formed on cucullus (“hood”). DELR marks the etymology uncertain: it accepts this reconstruction and compares Byzantine Greek κουκούλλιον (koukoúllion…
cucută
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cucūta, a popular form of Latin cicūta (“hemlock”) with the first vowel assimilated to the second. The same change appears in Occitan coucudo and in French…
cufunda
DELR calls it uncertain but probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōnfundāre, a first-conjugation form of Latin cōnfundō (“to pour together, mix”), itself made of con- and fundō (“to pour”); the…
cufuri
It is inherited from Latin conforiō (“to befoul with excrement”), formed with con- on foriō, from foria (“diarrhoea”). The Latin verb is recorded only once, in Pomponius. The REW lists the Romanian…
cugeta
It is inherited from Latin cōgitō (“to think”), from con- and agitō (“to drive, stir; to turn over in the mind”), from agō (“to drive”). Its Romance cognates include Old French cuidier, Spanish…
cui
It is inherited from Latin cuneus (“wedge”), a word continued throughout Romance. The REW, Pușcariu, and Candrea and Densusianu give the same source. The origin of the Latin word is unclear: a link…
cuib
The origin is disputed. The usual view, followed by DELR, DEX, MDA2 and the DA, is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cubium (“resting place”), formed on cubō (“to lie down”) like concubium; it is…
culca
It is inherited from Latin collocō (“to place, set in place”). The Latin verb is formed from con- and locō (“to put in a place”), from locus (“place”). In Late Latin it had also come to mean “to lay…
culege
It is inherited from Latin colligō (“to gather together”), a pan-Romance verb. The Latin verb is a compound of con- and legō (“to gather, collect”). The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian…
culme
It is inherited from Latin culmen (“top, summit; roof”), a contracted form of columen. Ciorănescu thinks it probably passed through a form Vulgar Latin *culmis. The bookish variants culmine and…
culoare
It is borrowed from Latin color, a learned loan, reinforced by French couleur, with Italian colore as a further model: DELR and Tiktin give all three. MDA2 and NODEX name French and Latin, and…
cum
It is inherited from Latin quōmodo (“in what way, how”), shortened already in popular Latin to quomo. The Latin word is formed of quō and modō, “in what way”. The word survives in all four branches…
cumătru
Its origin is disputed: DELR, after Pușcariu, Skok and the DA, derives it from Latin: inherited from Latin commāter (“godmother”) and compater (“godfather”) blended in the Latin of the Danube into…
cumineca
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *comminicō (“to give communion”), a popular form of Latin commūnicō (“to share, communicate”), which the Church writers used for taking communion. The Latin verb is…
cumnat
It is inherited from Latin cognātus (“related by birth, blood relative”), from con- and nātus (“born”). The sense widened to “relative” and then narrowed in Vulgar Latin to “brother-in-law”, which…
cumpăra
It is inherited from Latin comparō (“to prepare, procure; to buy”), a verb formed with con- on parō (“to prepare, procure”). Latin already used it in the sense “to buy”, and that is the sense it has…
cumpărător
It is formed from Romanian cumpăra + -ător. Wiktionary also allows comparātor, and compares Italian compratore, Spanish comprador and Portuguese comprador. The verb is from Latin comparō (“to…
cumpăt
It is inherited from Latin computus (“calculation, reckoning”), probably through a popular variant *compitus. This is the view of Philippide, Șăineanu, Candrea and Densusianu, Tiktin, Ciorănescu and…
cumpăta
DELR, DEX and MDA2 take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *compitō (“to count, reckon”), a spoken form of Latin computō (“to calculate, count up”), which is formed from con- and putō (“to reckon; to…
cumpli
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *complīō (“to finish”), a form of Latin compleō (“to fill up, complete”) moved to the fourth conjugation. The Latin verb is formed from con- and pleō (“to fill”), a…
cunoaște
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *connōscō, the popular form of Latin cognōscō (“to get to know”), remade after the simple verb nōscō. Wiktionary gives the Late Latin form as conōscō. The Latin…
cununa
It is inherited from Latin corōnō (“to crown”), the verb derived from corōna (“crown, wreath”), which gave the noun cunună. Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of the noun but allows that it…