List of Romanian words of possible pre-Roman origin
The Eastern Romance languages developed from the Proto-Romanian language, which in turn developed from the Vulgar Latin spoken in a region of the Balkans which has not yet been exactly determined, but is generally agreed to have been a region north of the Jireček Line.
That there was language contact between Latin or Vulgar Latin speakers and speakers of indigenous Paleo-Balkan languages in the area is a certainty; however, it is not known which Paleo-Balkan language or languages comprise the substratal influence in the Eastern Romance languages.
In addition to vocabulary items, some other features of Eastern Romance, such as phonological features and elements of grammar may also be from Paleo-Balkan languages.
Lexical items
Older Romanian etymological dictionaries tended to assume a borrowing in many cases, usually from a Slavic language or from Hungarian, but etymological analysis may show that, in many cases, the direction of borrowing was from Romanian to the neighboring languages. The current Dicționar explicativ published by the Romanian Academy continues to list many words as borrowings, though the work of other linguists may indicate that a number of these are in fact indigenous, from local Indo-European languages.Though the substratum status of many Romanian words is not much disputed, their status as Dacian words is controversial, some more than others. There are no significant surviving written examples of the Dacian language, so it is difficult to verify in most cases whether a given Romanian word is actually from Dacian or not. Many of the pre-Roman lexical items of Romanian have Albanian parallels, and if they are in fact substratum words cognates with the Albanian ones, and not loanwords from Albanian, it indicates that the substrate language of Romanian may have been on the same Indo-European branch as Albanian.
The Bulgarian Thracologist Vladimir Georgiev developed the theory that the Romanian language has a "Daco-Moesian" language as its substrate, a hypothesized language that according to him had a number of features which distinguished it from the Thracian language spoken further south, across the Haemus range.
According to Romanian historian, there are supposedly over 160 Romanian words of Dacian origin, representing, together with derivates, 10% of the basic Romanian vocabulary. But through the scantly documented Dacian linguistic material such origin can't be proven. Attested Dacian plant names that were collected by Dioscorides and Pseudo-Apuleius do not belong to the Romanian lexicon.
Below is a list of Romanian words of possible pre-Roman origin. Some early scholars have speculated that they are of Dacian origin, but there is no evidence for it. A number of the words are clear loanwords from attested languages.
| Word / Name | English | Sources | Notes – Alternative etymologies |
| abeș | really, for sure! | Hasdeu, Vraciu, Paliga | dialectal Banat; a+beș < IE *bhend- 'to bind', cf. Albanian besë 'word of honor; faith', besabesë 'on my honor!' |
| Abud | Abud, village in Mureș County | Paliga | related to Thracian Aba, Abantes, Abro-lebas. Cf. Romanian Abrud, abur, Pre-Indo-European ultimately from *AB- 'elevated, prominent' |
| abur | steam, vapour | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu, Paliga | Aromanian abur; cf. Albanian avull Proto-Albanian *abulā 'steam, vapour'; cf. Romanian boare. Ultimately from Pre-Indo-European *AB- 'prominence, elevation' |
| aburca | 'to climb up' | Paliga | Prefix ab + urca: ultimately from Pre-Indo-European *OR- / *UR- 'big, huge, giant' related with Greek ouranizo 'to go up, to climb' derived from Ouranos 'sky'. |
| ad-, at- | Paliga | Pre-Indo-European, spread across whole Europe. Inherited via Thracian. | |
| adaru | I make; I set up, I set an ornament | Paliga | Aromanian; from Indo-European *der-, dra- 'to work'; cf. Greek δράω, Lithuanian daraù, Latvian darît 'to make' |
| adulmeca | 'to sniff, to smell' | Paliga | probably *ad-ul-m-ec-a. Substatum root -ulm- related to olm '' |
| ag- | archaic 'to get to a thorn' | Paliga | Cf. agănău, agăța. Related to Thracian names Aga-thyr-soi, Aeg-issus. agăța is seemingly derived from the same root. |
| Agaua | Agaua village, Brăila county | Paliga | related to Agnita, Agăș, Agriș/agriș, cf. Agay, Provence, and Aigai, Greece. See ag-. |
| agănău | a kind of folk dance | Paliga | related to root ag-. |
| Agăș | Agăș, Bacău county, Bihor county | Paliga | Today extinct. The village in Bihor is near a hill called Acățel which can be used to reject an etymology from agas 'crossroad, branched out'. Cf. Thracian Aegissus; the spelling -ss- might stand for an original š in Thracian. Also place names Egeria, Egirca, Egeta, Aegeta and in Hungary Ágasvár seems related, in which case it could be Pre-Magyar. |
| aghiuță | devil | Hasdeu | from Greek ágios 'holy' + -uță. |
| Agnita | Agnita, Serbia | Paliga | cf. Thracian, Ancient Greek Aegitna, Aigaios |
| amurg, -uri | 'sunset' | Paliga | related to the name of the Greek island Amorgós, and amorgís, -ídos textile plant. Probably from Preie. *AM-, *AN- |
| andrea | knitting needle | Russu | Muntenian/Transylvanian undrea; from Andrea, Undrea 'December', from Greek Andréas 'St. Andrew's Day' ; from the tradition of knitting socks on St. Andrew's Day. Similar to Alb. shëndreu 'November', after Shën Ndreu 'St. Andrew'. |
| argea | loom | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | plural argele; from Greek argaleiós; also Albanian dial. argali 'small, wooden loom' |
| baligă | dung, manure | Russu | Aromanian baligã, Megleno-Romanian balig, Istro-Romanian bålege; from Old Albanian baljëgë ; also Serbo-Croatian bȁlega |
| baltă | pool, puddle | Russu | Aromanian baltã, Megleno-Romanian baltă, Istro-Romanian bote; from Albanian baltë 'swamp'. |
| barză | stork | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu, Olteanu | Oltenia bardăș, bardoș 'stork', Transylvanian/Aromanian/Megleno-Romanian bardzu 'white'; feminine of barz 'whitish ', from Albanian bardhë 'white', bardhosh, bardhash 'whitish' |
| bălaur, balaur | dragon, monster | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | from Serbo-Croatian blȁvor 'scheltopusik', from Albanian bullar. |
| băga | to insert, thrust | Russu | Aromanian bagu 'to put', Megleno-Romanian bagari; from Byzantine Greek bázo 'to put in or on, set down' |
| băl, bălan, bălaș | fair-haired, blond ; white-haired | Hasdeu | from Albanian bal 'white-haired; starred forehead', balosh, balash 'white-marked, piebald; dappled; hoary, white-haired' |
| bâr | call to a sheep | Vraciu | from Albanian berr 'sheep or goat; small livestock'; cf. Czech beran 'ram', Polish/Ukrainian/Russian baran ; Canavese berro 'ram', Piemontese bero 'id.' |
| brad | fir | Hasdeu, Russu, Olteanu | Aromanian brad; from Proto-Albanian *brada. |
| brânză | cheese | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | Aromanian brãndzã, Megleno-Romanian brǫnză; from Albanian brëndës 'intestines; rennet bag ', identical to rânză ; Romanian lent Transylvanian German Pränz, Slovak/Polish bryndza, which gave Austrian Brimsen. |
| brâu | belt, waist | Russu | dialectal brân, colloquial brână, Aromanian brãnu, Megleno-Romanian brǫn, Istro-Romanian brĕne; from Old Albanian *bren ; replaced Transylvanian/Bucovina balț 'loop, eye, ring ', from Latin balteus 'belt'. |
| brusture | burdock | Russu | Aromanian broshtur, brushturã; from Albanian brushtull 'heather' |
| bucura | to be glad | Russu | also bucuros 'glad'; from Albanian bukuroj 'to beautify', bukurosh 'beautiful', both from bukur 'nice, lovely' |
| bunget | dense, dark forest | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | from Albanian bung 'chestnut oak' + Romanian -et 'grove'. |
| burtă | belly, stomach | Russu | dialectal borț 'pregnant woman's belly' |
| buză | lip; edge | Russu | Aromanian budzã "lip; brim"; from Albanian buzë "lip; edge" |
| Buzău | Buzău, Buzău county | Paliga | Attested in antiquity as Μουσεος |
| cață | shepherd's rod, crook | Russu | also descăța "to unhook"; See acăța above. |
| căpușă | sheep ked | Russu | from Albanian këpushë 'tick', derivative of kap 'to grip, snatch' |
| căpută | toe ; low boot | Russu | from Albanian këputë "sole ", këpucë "shoe"; unrelated to Slavic kopyto "hoof" > Romanian copită |
| cătun | hamlet | Russu | from Albanian katund 'village; herdsmen community; widely spread-out village" |
| cioară | crow | Sala, Hasdeu, Vraciu | Aromanian cioarã, Megleno-Romanian čoară; from Old Albanian *corrë |
| ciut | hornless, poll; one-horned | Russu | dialectal șut; from Slavic; cf. Bulgarian/Serbo-Croatian šut; also Albanian shyt 'hornless' |
| curma | to stop abruptly, interrupt | Russu | older curmez, from Byzantine Greek kormázein ; cf. Albanian kurmua |
| curpăn | vine, twining stem | Russu | from Albanian kurpën, kurpër 'clematis', from kurp 'traveller's joy, old man's beard '; related to below. |
| cursă | trap, snare | Russu, Olteanu | from Albanian kurth, contraction of dial. kurpth, diminutive of kurp; related to above. |
| custură | blade, knife edge, knife | Russu | variants custure, cusutură, cuțitură, from cuțit "knife' + suffix -tură |
| daș | ram | Russu | from Albanian dash |
| doină | lamenting folksong | Hasdeu, Vraciu | Transylvanian daină; from Lithuanian dainà 'folksong', derivative of Proto-Baltic *deî- |
| droaie | crowd, multitude; a lot | Russu | back-formation from the plural droi, from Albanian droe, droje 'fear'; same sense development in Rom. groază 'horror' > o groază de 'a lot of'. |
| Dunăre | The Danube river | Paliga | Dac. *Dan-ar- cf. NFl Aar, Aare |
| fărâmă | crumb, morsel, bit | Russu | variant sfărâmă, Aromanian sãrmã; from Albanian thërrime, from ther 'to stab, slaughter, snip' |
| gard | fence | Russu | Istro-Romanian gård "wattle gate to a pen"; from Albanian gardh; unrelated to Slavic gradŭ > Alb gradë |
| gata | ready, done | Russu | from Albanian gat "ready", from gatuaj 'to ready, prepare; cook', from Slavic *gotovati; cf. Serbo-Croatian gotov "ready", Polish gotowy. |
| gălbează | liver rot, sheep pox | Russu | variant călbează; from Albanian gëlbazë, këlbazë, klëbacë 'sheep pox', itself from the Albanian word "kalb" with a diminutive suffix -zë, commonly seen in disease names. |
| ghimpe | thorn | Russu | from Albanian gjemb |
| ghionoaie | woodpecker | Sala, Russu | dialectal ghionoi, ghin, Aromanian ǵionu 'tawny owl'; from Albanian gjon 'scops owl', from Gjon 'John'; Albanian also has qukapik 'woodpecker' |
| ghiuj | gaffer, old fogey | Hasdeu, Vraciu | Aromanian ghiush; from Albanian gjysh "grandfather" |
| gordin | kind of grapes used in winemaking | Hasdeu | variants gordean, gardină, gorgan, gordan; from Russian gordina "currant" |
| grapă | harrow | Russu | from Albanian grep 'hook'. |
| gresie | sandstone, whetstone | Russu | Aromanian greasã; from Albanian gërresë 'rasp, scraper; drawing knife', from gërryej 'to scrape, scour' |
| grumaz | neck | Russu, NODEX | Aromanian grumadz, gurmadz; from Albanian gurmaz 'gaping maw, wide-open jaws; esophagus', itself from kurm 'trunk, torso' |
| grunz | lump, clod | Russu | variants grunț, Aromanian grundã 'lump', grundzã 'bran'; from Albanian krunde 'coarse bran; sawdust', derivative of kruaj 'to scratch' |
| gudura | to fawn, cajole | Russu | from Albanian gudulis 'to tickle; pleasure'; unrelated to Romanian gâdila 'to tickle'. |
| iazmă | ugly and evil apparition, ghost | Hasdeu | western aiazmă, eastern agheazmă; from Greek agíasma 'holy water; sacred spring'. |
| întrema | to recover after illness or fatigue | Russu | variants întrăma, întrarma, back-formation from destrăma 'unweave, unravel, break up'. |
| leagăn | cradle, swing | Russu | variants leangăn, leagănă; Istro-Romanian leagăr; back-formation of legăna "to rock, swing", from Byzantine Greek liknon "cradle"; likewise Albanian lëkund "to swing" |
| mal | lakeside shore, riverbank; coast | Sala, Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | from Albanian mal "mountain" |
| maldac, măldac | a small load | Hasdeu | from Greek mandákis |
| mazăre | pea | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu, Olteanu | Aromanian madzãre; also Romanian măzăriche 'vetch', Aromanian mãdziriclje; from Albanian modhull 'yellow vetchling', diminutive of modhë 'rye-grass, brome' |
| mânz | foal, colt | Russu | Aromanian mãndzu, Megleno-Romanian mǫndz; from Old Albanian manz. Also mânzat 'steer', from OAlb. *manzat. |
| măgură | hill, knoll | Sala, Russu | dialectal Romanian măgulă, Aromanian mãgulã; from Albanian magulë, a metathesis of gamulë; likewise Serbo-Croatian gòmila ~ mògila 'heap'. |
| mire | bridegroom | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | from Albanian mirë 'good'; replaced Old Romanian măritu. |
| moș | old man | Russu | back-formed from moașă 'midwife', from Albanian moshë 'age', moshëm 'old, aged'; replaced Old Romanian auș, from Latin avus. |
| mozoc | large shepherd dog | Hasdeu | variant mosoc |
| mugure | bud | Russu | from Albanian mugull "bud, sprout" |
| Mureș | Mureș river | Paliga | Ancient Maris, from IE *māro, *māno 'wet' and related to Romanian a mura 'to pickle' |
| murg | dark-bay horse | Sala, Russu | Aromanian murgu, Megleno-Romanian murg; also amurg 'twilight, dusk'; from Albanian murg "dark". |
| mușat | handsome | Russu | Aromanian musheat, Megleno-Romanian/Istro-Romanian mușat; clipped form of *frumușat, from frumos |
| noian | multitude, heap; abyss, immense sea | Sala, Russu | from Albanian ujanë "ocean", from ujë "water" |
| păstaie | pod, capsule, hull | Russu | Aromanian pãstãlje; from Vulgar Latin pistālia, from pistāre "to pound"; or from Albanian bishtajë "pod, hull; string bean" |
| pârâu | brook, creek | Russu | dial. pârău, Megleno-Romanian păroi; from Albanian përrua 'torrent, rushing stream', from Bulgarian poroj 'torrent', from *po-rojĭ. |
| păstra | to keep up | Russu | older păstrez; Aromanian spãstrescu, Megleno-Romanian păstres; from Greek pastrevo 'to clean, cleanse', from Byzantine Greek spastréuō; cf. Bulgarian pastrja |
| Proca | name of person | Paliga | related to Dac. NL Napoca |
| pupăză | hoopoe | Sala | Aromanian pupãzã, Megleno-Romanian pupează; from Albanian pupëz, diminutive of pupë, itself possibly from Latin upupa |
| pururi | always, forever | Russu | variant purure, pururea; from d pure |
| rânză | abomasum | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | Aromanian arãndzã 'rennet'; from Albanian rrëndës 'rennet'. |
| sâmbure | kernel; pip, core | Russu, NODEX, Olteanu | dialectal simbure, sumbure, Aromanian sãmbure, sumbur; from Albanian sumbull "push button; bud" |
| scăpăra | to strike fire; sparkle, lighten | Russu | Aromanian ascãpirare, Megleno-Romanian scăpirari; from Albanian shkrep "to strike fire", shkrepës "flint" |
| scrum | ashes | Russu | older scrumb; from Albanian shkrumb; also Bulgarian скрум |
| searbăd | insipid | Russu, Olteanu | older sarbăd, Aromanian sarbit; from Albanian tharbët "sour" |
| spânz | purple hellebore | Russu | variants spânț, spunz, Aromanian spingiu; from Albanian shpendër |
| steregie | soot caked in a chimney; scum; dross, waste; wine tartar | Russu | variants stirigie, stirighie, etc.; from variants tereghie, tirghie, etc. "wine tartar", from Greek trugiá, blended with Serbo-Croatian striješ "wine tartar" |
| sterp | barren, infertile | Russu | eastern stărp, Aromanian sterpu; from Byzantine Greek stérifos ; cf. Albanian shterpë, Slovene stirpa, Venetian sterpa. |
| strepede | cheese maggot | Russu | Aromanian streapit "cheese mite", Megleno-Romanian strepij; from Albanian shtrep "maggot, larva" |
| strungă | sheepfold; narrow passage, canyon | Russu, NODEX | from Albanian shtrungë 'milking enclosure', from shtroj 'to spread' |
| sugruma | to strangle, to burke | Russu | from sub "under" + grumaz "throat". |
| șir | row, line | Hasdeu, Russu | also șiră "spine"; from Greek sirá 'line, row; cord, rope' |
| șopârlă | wall lizard | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | variant șopirlă, Aromanian ciupilar ; from Albanian zhapi 'lizard'. |
| traistă | bag | Hasdeu | older taistră, tainstră, traistră, Bassarabia/Maramarus straistă, Transylvanian straiță; cf. Albanian trastë, trajstë, strajcë. |
| țap | he-goat; buck | Russu | from Albanian cjap. |
| țarc | pen, fold | Russu, Olteanu | from Albanian thark 'enclosure '. |
| țumburuș | small, round knob, nub | Olteanu | older țâmburuș; from Albanian thumbull 'button; pin'; nearly identical to sâmbure . |
| urca | to mount, ascend; increase | Russu, Paliga | Either from Vulgar Latin *oricāre, frequentative of orior "to rise" or ultimately from Pre-Indo-European *OR- / *UR- 'big, huge, giant' related with Greek ouranizo 'to go up, to climb' derived from Ouranos 'sky'. |
| urdă | ricotta | Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu | from dialectal Albanian urdhë |
| vatră | hearth, fireplace; home | Hasdeu, Russu. | from Tosk Albanian vatër |
| vătui | yearling kid ; hare | Russu | older vătuiu, Aromanian vitulju, Megleno-Romanian vitul'u; from Byzantine Greek *vitoúlion ; also Albanian ftujë 'female kid' |
| viezure | badger | Sala, Russu, Olteanu | older viedzure, Aromanian yedzurã, yedzãre; from Albanian vjedhull, from vjedh "to steal" |
| zară | buttermilk | Russu | from *dzară, from Albanian dhallë; also Aromanian dhalã |
| zburda | sport, frolic, frisk about | Russu | variant sburda; from Byzantine Greek spyrthizein 'to frolic, lark ' |
| zer | whey | Russu, Olteanu | older zăr, Aromanian dzãr, Moldavian/Banat/ dzăr masculine back-formation from zară. |
| zgardă | dog collar | Russu | from Albanian shkardhë 'dog chain; wicker gate in fence', from sh- + gardhë 'fence'. |
- The Notes column contains information found in various dictionaries. "Not in current use" indicates words not found in dictionaries of contemporary Romanian.
- The Sources column indicates the linguist or the works who suggested including the words in the list:
- "Sala":, De la latină la română
- "Hasdeu": Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae, 1894.
- "Russu":, Limba traco-dacilor, Editura Științifică, 1967. The words that have been identified by I. I. Russu to have cognates in Albanian are marked with '.
- "Vraciu": Ariton Vraciu, Limba daco-geților, Timișoara: Editura Facla, 1980.
- "NODEX": Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, Litera Internațional, 2002. In this dictionary substratum words are labeled cuvînt autohton "native word".
- "Olteanu": Sorin Olteanu, "The TDM Palatal".
- "Ciorănescu": Alexandru Ciorănescu, Diccionario etimológico rumano, Tenerife: Universidad de la Laguna, 1958–1966.
- Sorin Paliga, Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous Elements in Romanian, Bucharest: Editura Evenimentul, 2006.