Etymologically
Log in

albu

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 23:40. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

albu (feminine albã, masculine plural alghi, feminine plural albi/albe)[1]

  • Feminine albã, masculine plural alghi, feminine plural albi or albe.[2][1]
  • Other spellings: alb in Wiktionary;[1] ALBU, feminine -bă, feminine plural álbe, in Papahagi's dictionary;[3] άλμπου, plurals άλγκι and άλμπε, in Nikolaidis's Greek script, which he transcribes albu, albă, álgi, álbe;[4] álbu-ă in Mihăileanu;[5] albu, -ghi; -bâ, -bi in DIARO;[6] albu in Weigand's glossary.[7]
  • Regional forms: álbu, feminine álbă, feminine plural álbi, in the glossary of the ALAR atlas;[8] ’albā in ’albā o’ai “white sheep” in the village of Turia.[9]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin albus (“white”).[3][10][1][4] De Vaan traces it to Proto-Italic *alfo- (“white”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰ-o- (“white”);[11] Wiktionary counts Ancient Greek ἀλφός (alphós, “whiteness, white leprosy”) among its cognates.[1]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian alb, Megleno-Romanian alb and Istro-Romanian ǫb.[12][13] Further west it survives in Spanish albo and Portuguese alvo.[12][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated record among these sources is Weigand's glossary of 1894, which glosses albu as white and lucky, and the plural albile as the fairies.[7]

Semantic evolution

Besides the colour, the word means clean and blameless:[3][2][1] Mihăileanu glosses it as honest and quotes éste cu fáça álbă ("he has a white face", he has done nothing wrong).[5] It also means happy or lucky, as in DIARO's wish albă s-ti vedu ("may I see you happy").[3][6] Ciorănescu calls this sense, shared with Romanian, an extension of the contrast of black and white;[12] Pascu compares Latin diēs (“day”) alba, a lucky day,[10] and Capidan notes the same sense in Albanian bardh (“white”).[15] The glossary of the ALAR atlas records it for pale, in álbu ca ţ÷ara ("pale as wax").[8] As nouns, the masculine plural alghi means silver coins and the feminine plural albile the fairies, evil spirits of the folk tales.[2][10][7]

Timeline

  • 1894 – albu “white, lucky” in Weigand's glossary.[7]
  • 1901 – álbu-ă “white, honest” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[5]
  • 1909 – άλμπου “white; happy” in Nikolaidis's dictionary.[4]
  • 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin albus.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. white.[2][1][3]
  2. (figurative) clean, blameless, honest.[2][1][5]
  3. happy, lucky.[3][10][7]
  4. pale.[8]

Noun

  1. (masculine plural alghi) silver coins.[2][10]
  2. (feminine plural) White clothes; the fairies, evil spirits.[2][7]

Word family

  • albush
  • alburiu
  • alghescu
  • algheatsã
  • albeatsã
  • Romanian alb

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 44
  3. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 133
  4. ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 24
  5. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 19
  6. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 33
  7. ^ a b c d e f Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 291
  8. ^ a b c Saramandu, Nicolae (2023), Glosar aromân, Fonetică și dialectologie XLII: 103–176, p. 108
  9. ^ Бара, Мариана; Каль, Теде; Соболев, Андрей Н. (2005), Южноарумынский говор села Турия (Малый диалектологический атлас балканских языков, серия монографий 1), p. 366
  10. ^ a b c d e f Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 31
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
  13. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1902), Megleno-românii: studiu etnografico-filologic I, București: Academia Română (with a glossary), p. 52
  14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  15. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1932), Aromânii: dialectul aromân. Studiu lingvistic, București: Academia Română (Academia Română, Studii și cercetări XX), p. 150