Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Aromanian word cãsãbã

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1901 Mihăileanu's dictionary
Borrowed from
Turkish kasaba
Ultimate origin
Arabic قَصَبَة

Forms

cãsãbã f (plural cãsãbadz, definite articulation cãsãbãlu, definite plural cãsãbadzlji)[1]

  • Masculine in Cunia, Papahagi, Pascu and Polenaković, plural cãsãbadz (cã-sã-bádzĭ);[2][3][4][5] feminine in Wiktionary.[1]
  • Other spellings: CÎSÎBĂ, plural císibádz, in Papahagi's dictionary;[3] căsăbău, articled casăbáŭlu, plural casăbádzīti, in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;[6] κᾶσᾶμπᾶ and χᾶσᾶβᾶ in Nikolaidis's Greek script, which he transcribes kâsâbă, plural -badz;[7] Căsăbă in the glossary of Papahagi's tales.[8]
  • Variants: cîsibă, hăsăbă, hăsăpă and hîsîbă in Pascu's sources;[4] hãsãpã in Wiktionary;[1] kăsă'bă in Ohrid and Struga.[9]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Turkish kasaba (“small town, borough”),[3][4][5][1] from Ottoman Turkish قصبه (kasaba), from Arabic قَصَبَة (qaṣaba).[1] Nikolaidis compares Modern Greek κασαμπάς (kasampás), itself from Turkish.[7]

The Turkish word spread through the Balkans: Albanian kasaba and Serbo-Croatian kasaba,[5] Romanian casaba (“market town”) (now obsolete),[10] and Megleno-Romanian căsăbă.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mihăileanu's dictionary of 1901 has căsăbău "town", with tricum pi tu unŭ mare căsăbău "we passed through a big town".[6]

Semantic evolution

Pascu glosses the Turkish word as a small town or borough;[4] in Aromanian it is any town or city, a large gathering of houses where people live and work.[2][3] From it Aromanian formed cîsîbúńu "townsman" and cîsîboáńe "townswoman".[3][4]

Timeline

  • 1901 – căsăbău “town” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[6]
  • 1905 – Căsăbă “town” in the glossary of Papahagi's tales.[8]
  • 1909 – Nikolaidis derives it from Turkish kasabá.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A town or city.[2][3][6][12]
  • Romanian casaba

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 269
  3. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 292
  4. ^ a b c d e 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. 2, 119
  5. ^ a b c Поленаковиќ, Харалампие (2007), Турски елементи во ароманскиот јазик, Скопје, p. 97
  6. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 98
  7. ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 206
  8. ^ a b Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 563
  9. ^ Марковиќ, Марјан (2007), Ароманскиот и македонскиот говор од охридско-струшкиот регион (во балкански контекст), Скопје, p. 53
  10. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
  11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 63
  12. ^ Bara, Mariana (2024), Dictsiunarlu ti cathi dzuuã, online at dixionline.net

Related etymologies

  • camã · also from Turkish
  • em · also from Turkish
  • anamã · also from Turkish
  • at · also from Turkish
  • yirã · also from Turkish
  • has · also from Turkish
  • nai · also from Turkish
  • top · also from Turkish
Cite this entry

“Cãsãbã.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/rup/c%C3%A3s%C3%A3b%C3%A3. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·