Etymology and origin of the Aromanian word yin
yin1 wine
From the same root · yin1
Forms
yin n (plural yinuri)[1]
- Plural yinuri.[1][2]
- Other spellings: yinu, vin and vinu in Wiktionary;[1] Dalametra's in, plural -uri;[3] vin, plural vinuri, in Pericle Papahagi's tale glossary;[4] yin, articled yinul (usually yinlu), in Weigand's glossary.[5]
- Cunia numbers the noun yin¹ and the verb “to come” yin².[6]
Etymology
The wine is inherited from Latin vīnum (“wine”).[2][1]
It is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian vin, Megleno-Romanian vin and Istro-Romanian vir.[7][8] The Latin word lives on all over Romance: Italian vino, French vin, Spanish vino, Portuguese vinho.[9]
De Vaan traces vīnum to Proto-Italic *wīno- and Proto-Indo-European *uih₁-on- (“vine; wine”), an n-stem from the root “to weave, wrap”, so that the vine was “the winding one”.[10] The OLD instead groups it with Ancient Greek οἶνος (oînos) and words of other languages, all probably taken from a common Mediterranean source.[11]
Earliest recorded meaning
The oldest dictionary record is Weigand's glossary of 1894, which gives yin as “wine”.[5]
Semantic evolution
Papahagi quotes yin laïŭ and yin aróșă (“black wine”, “red wine”), and notes that Aromanians, like the ancient Greeks with their morning bread dipped in wine, now and then give children bread soaked in wine.[2]
Timeline
Meanings
Noun
yin2 to come
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- 1894 Weigand's glossary
- Inherited from
- Latin venio
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Indo-European *gʷem-
Etymology tree of yin2
From the same root · yin2
Forms
yin (third-person singular yini or yine, participle vinitã or vinjitã or vinitã)[1]
- Class IV and II: aorist vinj or vinjii, imperfect vinjam or yineam, participle vinjitã, vinitã or yinitã, infinitive vinjire, vinire, vineare or yineare.[6][2]
- Other spellings: vin, yinu and vinu in Wiktionary;[1] vinu in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;[12] yinu (aorist vinu, participle vinitu) in Katsanis and Dinas;[13] present vin or yin and the infinitives vinire, yinire, vineare, yineare and Dalametra's vin'are in Pascu;[14] yin, imperative yin, imperfect yineä, aorist viu, in Weigand's glossary.[5]
Etymology
The verb “to come” is inherited from Latin veniō (“to come”).[2][14][1][13]
It is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian veni (present vin), Megleno-Romanian vin and Istro-Romanian viru.[7][15] The Latin verb lives on all over Romance: Italian venire, French venir, Spanish venir, Portuguese vir.[9]
De Vaan traces veniō to Proto-Italic *gʷn̥-je/o- (“to come”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʷm̥-ie/o- (“to come”);[10] it is from the zero grade of the root *gʷem-, which also gave Ancient Greek βαίνω (baínō) and Old English cuman (English come).[1][11]
Earliest recorded meaning
The oldest dictionary record is Weigand's glossary of 1894, which gives yin as “I come”.[5]
Semantic evolution
Besides “to come” and “to arrive”, the verb is said of dough: to ferment, to rise.[2][14][6] Mihăileanu also records the sense “to weigh, to pull the scale”.[12][14] Papahagi quotes the curse c' acló s' lă yínă! (“may it come to them there!”, that is “serves them right”).[2]
Timeline
- 1894 – yin “I come” in Weigand's glossary.[5]
- 1901 – vinu “to come; to rise (of dough); to weigh” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[12]
- 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin venīre.[14]
Meanings
Verb
Related words
- Romanian veni
Usage notes
Pascu's in “air of a song”, from Greek ἦχος (êchos), is another word.[16]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 524
- ^ a b Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 105
- ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 738
- ^ a b c d e f g Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 339
- ^ a b c d Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1110
- ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
- ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 327
- ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 537
- ^ a b Κατσάνης, Νικόλαος; Ντίνας, Κωνσταντίνος (1990), Γραμματική της κοινής κουτσοβλαχικής, Θεσσαλονίκη: Αρχείο Κουτσοβλαχικών Μελετών, p. 138
- ^ 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, 185
- ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 326
- ^ 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, 53
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Yin.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/rup/yin. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.
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