Romanian words from Latin
1948 Romanian words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 8).
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…
cunună
It is inherited from Latin corōna (“wreath, crown”), a word found in all the Romance languages. The Latin word is from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “crow; anything curved; a kind of crown”). The…
cupă
It is inherited from Late Latin cuppa (“cup”), a late form of Latin cūpa (“tub, cask”) known only from glosses, which took the sense “cup, goblet” across the Romance languages. Its Romance relatives…
cuprinde
It is inherited from Latin comprendō (“to seize, grasp”), the contracted form of comprehendō, from prehendō (“to take hold of”) with the prefix com-. The unprefixed verb gave prinde. Its Romance…
cuptor
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *coctōrium (“place for baking”), formed on coctus (“cooked, baked”), the past participle of coquō (“to cook, bake”). The same Latin word lies behind Albanian…
cur
It is inherited from Latin cūlus (“backside, anus”). Intervocalic /l/ became /r/, as the authors of the Lexicon de la Buda already noted. The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian cur…
curând
It is inherited from Latin currendō (“by running”), a form of the gerund of currō (“to run”). Wiktionary notes that it can also be read as the gerund of cure, an old and regional form of curge “to…
curat
It is from Romanian cura (“to clean”), the past participle of that old verb used as an adjective. The verb is from Latin cūrō (“to take care of”), from cūra (“care”). Other sources take it straight…
curcubetă
It is inherited from Latin cucurbita (“gourd”). DELR takes the variant cucúrbătă (plural ⟨cucúrbete⟩) as the basic form. The Latin word is probably a loanword, perhaps related to cucumis…
curea
It is inherited from Latin corrigia (“shoelace, thong”). Tiktin explains the change through *correja and *correa, compare cucuvea. DELR compares plai from plagius for the loss of the consonant, and…
curechi
It is inherited from Latin cōliculus (“small stalk; cabbage”), the form of cauliculus that already occurs in Latin, a diminutive of caulis (“stalk; cabbage”). Wiktionary sets up a spoken Latin…
curge
It is inherited from Latin currō (“to run”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). The regular outcome was cure (old ⟨curre⟩), with the present ⟨cur⟩ and the participle curs. Towards the end…
curs
1. The word for the flow of water is inherited from Latin cursus (“running, course”), with some senses modelled on French cours. The Latin noun was formed on currō (“to run”). Tiktin counts the…
cursoare
Tiktin, the DA and MDA2 take it as formed from Romanian curs + -oare, from the old past participle of cure “to run, flow”. DEX, CADE and Candrea and Densusianu take it instead as inherited from…
cursură
It is inherited from Latin cursūra (“running, a race”), formed in Latin from currō (“to run”). Scriban instead derives it in Romanian from curs, the old past participle of cure “to run, flow”, with…
curte
It is inherited from Late Latin curtis (“yard, court”), a popular form of Latin cohortem (“enclosed yard; retinue”). The change of /o/ to /u/, recorded in the Late Latin form, recurs in other…
cusătură
Its origin is disputed. In DELR's first explanation it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōnsutūra (“seam”), from cōnsuō (“to sew together”), as Pușcariu, CADE and the Academy dictionary did for some…
cuscru
It is inherited from Latin cōnsocer (“a son's or daughter's father-in-law”), continued in the accusative form cōnsocerum. DELR starts from a reshaped *consocrum, made like the feminine *consocra…
custa
It is inherited from Latin cōnstō (“to stand firm, remain unchanged”), formed from con- and stō (“to stand”), the source of sta. Pușcariu, the REW and Drăganu gave the same etymon. It survives south…
cute
It is inherited from Latin cōs (“whetstone”), from its accusative cōtem. The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian cuti and Megleno-Romanian cuti. Its Romance cognates include Italian cote…
cuțit
Its origin is not certain. Most sources take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *cotītus (“whetted, sharpened”), from a verb *cotiō (“to sharpen”), formed on Latin cōs (“whetstone”): this is the view…
cutreiera
It is inherited from Latin contrībulō (“to crush, tread down”), formed from con- and trībulō (“to thresh, crush”), which gave treiera. The Latin verb comes from trībulum, the heavy board dragged…
cutremura
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *contremulō, a Latin verb not recorded in writing, formed with con- on Late Latin tremulō (“to tremble”), from Latin tremulus (“trembling”), from tremō (“to…
cuvânt
It is inherited from Latin conventum (“agreement”), beside conventus (“assembly, gathering”), from conveniō (“to come together”). The meaning moved from “gathering” through “agreement” and…
cuvânta
DER, Tiktin, Scriban and the REW take it as a verb formed in Romanian on the noun, from Romanian cuvânt (“word”) + -a. The noun is from Latin conventus (“assembly, meeting”). Pușcariu, DA, CADE and…
cuveni
It is inherited from Latin conveniō (“to come together; to suit, be fitting”). The Latin verb was formed with con- on veniō (“to come”). DELR calls it panromance; its cognates include Italian…
cuviință
It is probably inherited from Latin convenientia (“agreement, harmony, fitness”), with its sense shaped by the verb cuveni “to be fitting”. DELR names this view, held by Pușcariu, Tiktin, CADE, the…
da
1. The word for “yes” is a late borrowing from Slavic, most likely from several languages at once: borrowed from Bulgarian да (da) in the speech of Muntenia, Russian да (da) in the towns of Muntenia…
dăpăra
It is inherited from Latin dēpilō (“to pull out the hair”), formed from dē- and pilō (“to deprive of hair”), from pilus (“hair”), the source of păr. Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, Pascu and the…
dărâma
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dērāmō (“to strip of branches”), formed on rāmus (“branch”). DELR notes that the verb is attested in Jerome's psalter in the sense “to uproot”, a reading later…
dărâna
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dērēnō (“to break the loins”), a verb not recorded in writing, formed on Latin rēnēs (“kidneys, loins”) in the way that dēlumbō (“to break the back, exhaust”) was…
dărăpăna
Its origin is uncertain. The most widely held view, in DELR, DEX 1998 and Wiktionary, is that it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dērapinō (“to tear off, pull down”), a verb not recorded in writing…
dator
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dēbitōrius, a form standing for Latin dēbitor (“debtor”). The Latin noun is formed on dēbeō (“to owe”), which DELR takes from dē- and habeō (“to have”). The…
daună
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin damnum (“loss, damage”), adapted to Romanian sounds: the group /mn/ was turned into /un/ as in scaun, which continues scamnum. Tiktin explains the feminine…
dăunos
The dictionaries mostly explain it as formed from Romanian daună (“damage”) + -os, with the adjective suffix. daună is itself a learned word, from Latin damnum (“damage, loss”), first recorded in…
de
1. The word for the preposition is inherited from Latin dē (“from, down from, about”). In Latin it first marked a movement from above downwards, and Late Latin made it the general preposition of…
decide
It is borrowed from French décider, with borrowed from Latin dēcīdō as a second source, as DELR, DEX, DN, MDN, MDA2 and the DLR give it; Ciorănescu and Tiktin give only the French verb. The Latin…
deda
Its origin is disputed. Most scholars take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *dēdāre (“to give oneself up”), the Latin dēdō (“to give up, surrender”) moved early into the first conjugation after the…
defaimă
It is either inherited from Vulgar Latin *diffāmia (“defamation”), formed like Latin īnfāmia (“disgrace”), or a back-formation from Romanian defăima. Pușcariu, Rosetti, Candrea and Densusianu…
defăima
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *diffāmiāre (“to defame”), a form of Latin diffāmō (“to spread a report; to defame”) with an /i/ taken from a noun *diffāmia, itself modelled on īnfāmia…
deget
It is inherited from Latin digitus (“finger, toe”), a word kept by all the Romance languages. The Romanian plural continues a Latin plural digita. Pușcariu explains the dialect forms with /dz/ and…
degetar
Most Romanian dictionaries explain it as formed from Romanian deget (“finger”) + -ar, with the same suffix as ștergar and cordar. Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, CADE and Giuglea take it instead…