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Etymology and origin of the Aromanian word tu

tu1 in

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1894 Weigand's glossary
Inherited from
Latin intro
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *h₁énteros
Etymology tree of tu1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin intro
Aromanian intru
Aromanian tru
Aromanian tu
French entrer
Italian entrare
Italian entro
From the same root · tu1
Latin deintro ← intro
Latin intrata ← intro
Latin intro- ← intro
Latin introeo ← intro
Latin introfero ← intro
Latin introrsum ← intro
Latin introspicio ← intro
French rentrer ← entrer
Italian entrata ← entrare
Italian rientrare ← entrare

Forms

tu[1]

  • Before a word beginning with a it can become to, which forms a diphthong with it (to-avlie “in the yard”).[2]
  • Other spellings: TU in Papahagi's dictionary;[3] tu in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;[4] Weigand and Bara give it beside the fuller tru.[5][6]

Etymology

The preposition is a shortened form of tru, which lost its r;[2] Pascu files it among the forms of that word,[7] Papahagi's dictionary refers from one to the other,[3] and Cunia defines it there.[8]

That preposition is inherited from Latin intrō (“inside, within”),[9][7][1] an adverb that, as Candrea and Densusianu note, is already used as a preposition in the Mulomedicina Chironis.[10] The Oxford Latin Dictionary analyses the Latin word as in- with the suffixes -ter and -ō;[11] Wiktionary derives it from an older *interus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁énteros (“inner, what is inside”).[1]

Its Eastern Romance cognates are Romanian întru, Megleno-Romanian antru and Istro-Romanian ântru;[12][13][10] the Megleno word also means between or among, the Istro word before or in front of.[13][14] In the west the Latin word survives in Italian entro and Catalan entro.[7][15]

Semantic evolution

In Aromanian the preposition kept and widened the Latin sense “inside”: it marks place (in, inside, on), direction (into, to), time (at, in) and company (among).[3][1][5][2] Ciorănescu notes that the Daco-Romanian întru lost ground to în, while in Aromanian it took the place of that preposition.[12] Papahagi quotes dúse tu xeáne “he went abroad” and tu tot lóclu “all over the earth”.[3]

Timeline

  • 1894 – tu, beside tru, “in, to, on” in Weigand's glossary.[5]
  • 1901 – tu “in” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[4]
  • 1905 – tu “in, at, on” in Papahagi's glossary to his folk tales.[2]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. in, inside.[1][4][3]
  2. into, to (direction).[1][5][3]
  3. on, upon.[5][2]
  4. At, in (time): tu fugă “on leaving”.[2][5][3]
  5. among.[3]

tu2 you

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1813 Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu
Inherited from
Latin tu
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *túh₂
Etymology tree of tu2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tu
Aromanian tu
French te
French toi
French tu
Italian tu
From the same root · tu2
Latin tute ← tu

Forms

tu[1]

  • The other cases: dative ţi, ţă and the shortened -ţ, also atia and atea; accusative ti or te;[16] tine as accusative and also as nominative; genitive a tui in Boiagi.[16]
  • Weigand records tu, more usually tine, dative tsie, a tsia or ts, accusative te or ti.[5]
  • Other spellings: TU' in Papahagi's dictionary.[17]

Etymology

The pronoun is inherited from Latin tū (“you (singular)”).[16][1] Pascu derives the dative from tibi, the short accusative from tē and the stressed tine from a Vulgar Latin *tene.[16] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *tū for Proto-Italic;[18] Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.[1]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian tu, Megleno-Romanian tu and Istro-Romanian tú.[12][19][14] Further west it gave Italian tu, French tu, Romansh tü and Dalmatian toi.[15]

Semantic evolution

The nominative tu has largely given way to tine (in Cunia's spelling tini): Weigand already found tine the usual form,[5] Papahagi's folk-tale glossary has tu only in some phrases such as tu ştii “you know”,[2] and Cunia describes it as almost lost from the language.[8]

Timeline

  • 1813 – the pronoun in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[16]
  • 1894 – tu “you”, more usually tine, in Weigand's glossary.[5]
  • 1905 – tu only in some phrases, in Papahagi's glossary to his folk tales.[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. you (second person singular, nominative).[1][8][17]
  • tru
  • Romanian întru
  • Romanian tu

Usage notes

Aromanian also has an interjection tu!, said with a show of spitting in contempt,[3] or of dismay (tu! ce am pițită “oh, what has happened to me!”).[20] Papahagi derives it from Turkish tu, the Turkish imitation of spitting;[3][21] Pascu files it among the Slavic words, from tiuh.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 719
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1201
  4. ^ a b c Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 512
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 335
  6. ^ Bara, Mariana (2024), Dictsiunarlu ti cathi dzuuã, online at dixionline.net
  7. ^ a b c 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, 172
  8. ^ 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. 1044
  9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1198
  10. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 78
  14. ^ a b Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
  15. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  16. ^ 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. 1, 173
  17. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1051
  18. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  19. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1902), Megleno-românii: studiu etnografico-filologic I, București: Academia Română (with a glossary), p. 124
  20. ^ Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 205
  21. ^ Tietze, Andreas (2002–2018), Tarihi ve Etimolojik Türkiye Türkçesi Lugatı, Istanbul: Simurg; Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences
  22. ^ 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, 211

Related etymologies

  • featã · also from Latin
  • cu · also from Latin
  • cã · also from Latin
  • shi · also from Latin
  • di · also from Latin
  • am · also from Latin
  • yin · also from Latin
  • nu · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Tu.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/rup/tu. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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