Romanian words from Old Church Slavonic
65 Romanian words with Old Church Slavonic in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
aidoma
DELR analyses it as from Romanian a (“at, to”) + *vidom + -a: the preposition and prefix ⟨a⟩, an unattested ⟨*vidom⟩ and the adverbial ending ⟨-a⟩. The middle part is from Old Church Slavonic видомъ…
beli
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic бѣлити (běliti, “to whiten”), from бѣлъ (bělŭ, “white”), with a peeling sense that Bulgarian, Slovene, Slovak and Lower Sorbian share. Tiktin explains the…
cămin
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic камина (kamina, “furnace, hearth”) according to the DA, MDA2, DEX and DELR; the Slavonic word is from Greek. The DA and CADE also name Bulgarian камина…
citi
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic читати (čitati, “to read”), a verb formed on чисти (čisti, “to count, reckon; to read”). This Old Church Slavonic verb meant “to count”, “to read” and also…
ciudat
It is probably borrowed from Bulgarian чудат (čudat, “wonderful; strange”), as Pascu proposed in 1931; the DA, Tiktin, MDA2 and DEX follow him. CADE and Ciorănescu derive it in Romanian from ciudă…
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…
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…
dar
1. The word for “but” is of uncertain origin, and the dictionaries disagree about it. Ciorănescu and Wiktionary think it probably a compound from Romanian de + iară, the preposition with the older…
devreme
It is formed from Romanian de + vreme, the preposition with the noun “time”: literally “of time, in time”. vreme is from Old Church Slavonic врѣмѧ (vrěmę, “time”).
dovadă
It is a back-formation from Romanian dovedi (“to prove”), according to Tiktin, the DLR, DEX and Ciorănescu, whom DELR follows. MDA2 instead gives it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic довада…
dovedi
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic довести (dovesti), first person singular доведѫ (dovedǫ), “to lead or bring somewhere; to demonstrate”, formed from до- (do-) and вести (vesti, “to lead”)…
drag
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic драгъ (dragŭ, “precious, dear”), from Proto-Slavic *dorgъ (“dear”). Ciorănescu compares Bulgarian драг (drag), Serbo-Croatian drag and Hungarian drága. The…
dragoste
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic драгость (dragostĭ). Scriban glosses the Slavonic word “dearness”. It comes from Proto-Slavic *dorgostь, made of *dorgъ (“dear”) and the abstract suffix…
drum
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic дроумъ (drumŭ), from Byzantine Greek δρόμος (drómos, “road, avenue, post road”), from Ancient Greek δρόμος (drómos, “running, race, course”). The Greek noun…
găsi
Its origin is uncertain; the DA and Wiktionary call it unknown. It may be borrowed from Old Church Slavonic гасити (gasiti, “to extinguish”), which MDA2 gives as the etymon and DEX compares: the…
gât
Its origin is uncertain. In MDA2's view it is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic глътъ (glŭtŭ), and Tiktin and Scriban also derive it from this Slavic word, which they give as a reconstructed form…
glumă
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic глоумъ (glumŭ), a masculine noun. DEX and MDA2 also name Bulgarian глума (gluma, “joke, jest”). Ciorănescu and the DA name the Slavonic word and compare the…
glumi
It is formed from Romanian glumă (“joke”) + -i: DA, DER and MDA2 take it from the noun. DEX derives it instead from the Slavonic verb Old Church Slavonic глоумити (glumiti), comparing the noun, and…
gol
1. The word for a goal in football is borrowed from English goal. It was at first also spelled ⟨goal⟩, as in English. Bulgarian гол (gol) is the same loan from English. 2. The word for “naked…
greșeală
It is formed from Romanian greși + -eală, the suffix of nouns of action. The verb greși “to sin, to err” is from Old Church Slavonic грѣшити (grěšiti, “to sin”), from грѣхъ (grěxŭ, “sin”)…
înșela
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *insellō (“to saddle”), from sella (“seat; saddle”), according to DEX, Tiktin and Wiktionary. DA and MDA2 give the same source for the verb “to saddle”, which DA…
iubi
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic любити (ljubiti, “to love”), the Old Church Slavonic verb, which goes back to Proto-Slavic *ľubiti and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to desire…
iubire
It is the long infinitive of the verb iubi “to love”, used as a noun: from Romanian iubi + -re. The verb is from Old Church Slavonic любити (ljubiti, “to love”), from Proto-Slavic *ľubiti…
lin
1. The word for the tench is borrowed from Bulgarian лин (lin, “tench”), according to DEX, MDA2 and the DLR. Ciorănescu and Tiktin take it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic линь (linĭ), after…
lovi
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic ловити (loviti, “to hunt, catch, fish”), from Proto-Slavic *loviti (“(to try to) catch”). Ciorănescu follows Miklosich, Cihac and Berneker and compares…
lovitură
It is formed from Romanian lovi + -tură, from the verb “to hit” with the suffix that makes nouns of action and result. The verb is from Old Church Slavonic ловити (loviti, “to catch, to hunt”).
milă
1. The word for pity is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic милъ (milŭ), feminine мила (mila), “worthy of pity”. Ciorănescu cites Miklosich, Cihac, Berneker and Tiktin for it. The Slavonic adjective…
muncă
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic мѫка (mǫka, “torment, torture”). The Old Church Slavonic word translated Ancient Greek βάσανος (básanos, “torment”) and κόλασις (kólasis, “punishment”), and…
nevoie
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic неволꙗ (nevolja, “necessity, constraint”), one of the Slavonic loans of the old language. Wiktionary says only that it came from South Slavic, and the…
noroc
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic нарокъ (narokŭ). In the Codex Suprasliensis the Slavonic noun renders Ancient Greek ψῆφος (psêphos, “pebble, vote”); ESSJa gives its senses as “a set term”…
obicei
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic обꙑчаи (obyčai, “custom, habit”), from Proto-Slavic *obyčajь. DEX, MDA2 and the DLR name Bulgarian обичай (običaj) as the source instead. Ciorănescu relates…
omorî
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic оуморити (umoriti, “to kill”), a word of the Old Church Slavonic of the church books. Wiktionary takes the Romanian form from the variant оморити (omoriti)…
opri
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic опрѣти (oprěti), borrowed with its reflexive опрѣти сѧ (oprěti sę). Șăineanu glossed the Slavonic verb “to support”. It is formed from the prefix о- (o-) and…
papă
1. The word for food in children's speech is inherited from Latin pappa (“food (a child's word)”), itself a nursery word. Ciorănescu calls it an expressive creation that may come straight from the…
pară
1. The word for the flame is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic пара (para, “steam, vapour, smoke”). The same noun means “steam” in Bulgarian па́ра (pára) and the other Slavic languages, and goes…
plăti
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic платити (platiti, “to pay”), from Proto-Slavic *platiti. Ciorănescu glosses the Slavonic verb “to settle (a debt)” and compares Russian платить (platitʹ). The…
pofti
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic похотѣти (pohotěti, “to covet, to long for”), as DEX, Wiktionary and Wikționar state. MDA2 marks the Slavonic form as reconstructed, but the SJS records the…
popă
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic попъ (popŭ, “priest”), a word of the Slavonic church. MDA2 also names the Slavonic form попа (popa). Ciorănescu, following Miklosich and Cihac, traces the…
poveste
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic повѣсть (pověstĭ, “story, account”), from the Church Slavonic of the church and chancery. In Old Church Slavonic the noun renders Ancient Greek διήγησις…
prea
Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic прѣ (prě, “very, over”), the intensifying prefix of Old Church Slavonic. The Slavonic prefix is the South Slavic form of Proto-Slavic…
prieten
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic приꙗтель (prijatelĭ, “friend”). MDA2 and DLR name Bulgarian приятен (prijaten) instead, with the Slavonic word beside it. The Slavonic noun goes back to…
prietenă
It is the feminine formed from Romanian prieten + -ă, on the word for “friend”. DER lists it among the derivatives of the masculine, and DEX, MDA2 and DLR treat the two genders in one entry. Prieten…
primi
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic приѩти (prijęti, “to take, receive”), with the present приимѫ (priimǫ), as Ciorănescu and Tiktin give it. MDA2 names the present form, while DEX and…
privi
It is probably borrowed from Old Church Slavonic правити (praviti, “to direct, govern”), as MDA2 and DLR state and DEX suggests. Wiktionary takes the same view, starting from the older form prăvi…
prost
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic простъ (prostŭ, “simple, plain, sincere”), from Proto-Slavic *prostъ (“simple, straight”). The Slavic adjective is a compound of the prefix *pro- and a form…
prostie
It is formed from Romanian prost + -ie. The adjective prost is from Old Church Slavonic простъ (prostŭ, “simple”), from Proto-Slavic *prostъ. Its first senses, “simple, plain, common”, are old, and…
rând
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic рѧдъ (rędŭ, “row, order”), a loan from the Slavonic of the church and chancery. The Slavonic word continues Proto-Slavic *rędъ (“row, line”). DEX and Scriban…
râs
1. The word for laughter is inherited from Latin rīsus (“laughter”). The Latin noun was formed on rīdeō (“to laugh”). The Romanian verb from that root is râde. It survives in Aromanian arãs. The…
război
1. The word for war is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic разбои (razboi, “crime, murder”), a word of the Old Church Slavonic texts. MDA2 and the DLR gloss the Slavonic source as “killing, plunder”…
școală
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic школа (škola), as MDA2 and the DLR state. DEX names the modern Slavic languages instead: Bulgarian школа (škola), Serbo-Croatian škola, Russian школа (škola)…
sfârși
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic съврьшити (sŭvrĭšiti, “to complete, to accomplish”) according to DER, DLR, MDA2 and DEX, and DLR and MDA2 add the contracted form свръшити (svrŭšiti), which…
slujbă
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic слоужьба (služĭba, “service, ministry”), a word of the Slavonic church and chancery. DER treats it with the verb sluji, from слоужити (služiti), and also…
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…
suci
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic соукати (sukati, “to twist, to spin”), a borrowing from the Slavonic of the church and chancery. MDA2 also names the form соучы (sučy). Ciorănescu gives the…
sută
Its origin is disputed: it is the only Romanian numeral not of Latin origin, and DEX calls it of unknown origin. The common view, Miklosich's and Cihac's, followed by Ciorănescu, Tiktin and Vasmer…
tocmai
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic тъкъма (tŭkŭma, “only, just”), a variant of тъкъмо (tŭkŭmo). Tiktin explains the final ⟨-i⟩ by the model of numai “only”, which also has a form ⟨numa⟩. The…
trăi
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic траꙗти (trajati, “to last”), from Proto-Slavic *trajati. Wiktionary allows a Common Slavic source as well. Ciorănescu compares Serbo-Croatian trajati (“to…
treabă
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic трѣба (trěba), from Proto-Slavic *terba. DER gives the Slavonic noun in the sense “trade, business” and the form трѣбѣ (trěbě) “need, necessity”, following…
trebui
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic трѣбовати (trěbovati, “to need, to be in need of”). The Slavonic verb meant “to need” and, in one text, “to bring offerings”. It belongs with трѣба (trěba…
vârstă
It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic връста (vrŭsta, “age, lifetime”). Ciorănescu cites Cihac and Conev and compares Bulgarian връст (vrǎst, “age”) and Slovene vrsta (“line”). The Slavonic word…