Romanian lexis

The lexis of the Romanian language, a Romance language, has changed over the centuries as the language evolved from Vulgar Latin, to Common Romanian, to medieval, modern and contemporary Romanian. A large proportion of present-day Romanian lexis is not inherited from Latin and in some semantic areas loanwords far outnumber inherited ones making Romanian an example of a language with a high degree of lexical permeability.

Thraco-Dacian substrate

Romanian has around 90 words from Thraco-Dacian.
abur, argea, baci, balaur, bală, balegă, baltă, barză, bască, bâlc, bâr, brad, brânză, brâu, brusture, buc, bucur, bunget, buză, căciulă, călbează, căpușă, cătun, ceafă, cioară, cioc, ciucă, ciuf, ciump, ciupi, ciut, coacăză, copac, copil, curpen, cursă, droaie, druete, fărâmă, fluier, gard, gata, ghimpe, ghionoaie, ghiuj, grapă, gresie, groapă, grumaz, grunz, gușă, jumătate, lete, leurdă, mal, mare, mazăre, măgar, măgură, mărar, mânz, moș, mugur, murg, mușcoi, năpârcă, noian, pârâu, pupăză, rață, rânză, sarbăd, scăpăra, scrum, sâmbure, spânz, strepede, strugure, strungă, șopârlă, știră, țap, țarc, țeapă, urdă, vatră, viezure, vizuină, zară, zgardă.

Latin

Romanian has inherited about 2000 Latin words through Vulgar Latin, sometimes referred to as Danubian Latin in this context, that form the essential part of the lexis and without them communication would not be possible. 500 of these words are found in all other Romance languages, and they include prepositions and conjunctions, numerals, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs with multiple meanings. Complete phrases can be built using only inherited Latin words.
Of the remaining words some are common to Romanian and only one other Romance language, such as înțelege "to understand" also found in Romansh, trece "to pass" found in Occitan, or sui "to climb up" found in Old Spanish, and around 100 of these words are not found in any other Romance languages. Some examples of the latter are:
adăpost, ager, agest, apuca, armar, asuda, așterne, cântec, ceață, cerceta, creștin, dezmierda, feri, ferice, flămând, ierta, întâi, județ, lânced, lângoare, legăna, leșina, lingură, mărgea, negustor, oaie, ospăț, plăcintă, plăsa, plimba, purcede, puroi, putred, sănătoare, suoară, treaptă, trepăda, urca, vânăt, vătăma, veșted, urî.
Of the words preserved in other Romance languages some have not only changed their shape, but also their meaning during their evolution from Latin to Romanian. Such are:

bărbat "man"
ceață "fog"
femeie "woman"
inimă "heart"
soț and soție "husband" and "wife"
Pre-Modern loanwords

Slavic loanwords

Contact with Slavic languages has brought numerous loanwords that permeated all the semantic fields of the language. It also brought prefixes and suffixes, introduced new sounds, calques adverbs and interjections. The influence of the Slavic languages on Romanian forms the adstratum of the language.
Among the basic Slavic loanwords are:
ceas clock, citi to read, covaci blacksmith, crai king, curvă whore, da yes, drag dear, dragoste love, duh spirit, ghost,
haină shirt, iubi to love, izvor source, mândru proud, muncă work, noroc luck, opri stop, porni start,
praf dust, prieten friend, prost stupid; simple, rând row; order, sărac poor, sfânt holy, sfert quarter
slănină bacon, smântână sour cream, sută hundred, târg market, tigaie pan, trup body, veac century,
vreme weather; time, zid wall.
Slavic languages also mediated the entry of Medieval Greek words in the language. Out of 278 words of Greek origin before 15th century 2 were borrowed through Medieval Latin, 22 directly, and 254 through South Slavic languages. Slavic loanwords represent about 9% of the basic vocabulary.

Greek loanwords

From the Latin spoken in the Danube area, Romanian has inherited a number of words from Ancient Greek that did not get transmitted in other Romance languages, for example: cir, ciumă, frică, jur, papură, părângă, plai, spân, sterp, stup.
From Medieval Greek words like folos, lipsi, părăsi, prisos, sosi entered the language.
During the Phanariot Period, Romanian, in particular the southern subdialects, borrowed numerous words like argat,
crivăț, chivernisi that have since gone out of use, while others, like stafidă for example, have remained part of the vocabulary. According to linguist László Gáldi only about 10% of the words loaned during this period remained in use in the language.
Some of the Greek words in Romanian can be recognise by the -isi , -os, -icos, -adă, or -ache.

Hungarian loanwords

Hungarian loanwords are notably absent from the other 3 Eastern Romance languages.
Words of Hungarian origin have entered the basic vocabulary and represent 1.27% of this category.
Some examples of Hungarian loanwords in Romanian are:

acaț "black locust"
ademeni "to lure, to seduce"
alcătui "to create, to form, to make"
altoi "to graft"
belșug "abundance"
birui "to overcome, to subdue"
bănui "to suspect"
bântui "to haunt"
cheltui "to spend"
chin "pain"
chip "face, image"
ciopor "group"
covaci "blacksmith"
dâmb "small hill"
făgădui "to promise, to pledge"
gând "thought, care"
hotar "border"
ic "wedge"
iobag "serf"
jale "sage"
fel "sort, type, kind"
labă "palm, paw"
lacăt "padlock"
locui "to dwell"
mai "liver"
marfă "goods"
neam "family, kin, ancestry, nation"
nemeș "landowner"
oraș "city"
pa "bye"
panglică "ribbon, hatband"
seamă "account"
servus "salute"
sicriu "coffin"
sobă "room"
șoim "falcon"
șuvoi "stream, current, torrent"
tobă "drum"
tobă "holder, case"
uliu "buzzard, goshawk"
vaida "voivode"
vamă "custom, toll"
zăbală "bit "

Food and beverage words of Hungarian origin:

doboș "dobos"
gulaș "goulash"
pălincă "palinka"
papricaș "paprika stew"
Turkish loanwords

Large parts of modern-day Romania were under Ottoman suzerainty for several centuries. As a result, exchanges in language, food and culture occurred, and Romanian has absorbed several loanwords of Turkish origin. Even though Turkish language had an influence on the Romanian language, only a few loanwords remain used today on a daily basis. Dobrogea region was part of Rumelia for centuries, as a result there exists a Turkish community there. Ada Kaleh was a small island located in Banat region on Danube river that was inhabited entirely by Turkish people from all parts of the Ottoman Empire who mostly produced Turkish goods for the region.
Examples of Turkish loanwords in Romanian language are:

aba "a type of garment"
abanos "ebony"
abitir "more"
aga "military officer"
alai "group of people"
arnăut "mercenary"
arpagic "chive"
arșic "bone of the leg joint"
bacșiș "tip, gratuity"
basma "kerchief"
batal "wether"
băbalac "old early"
băcan "merchant"
bairam "big party"
baltag "ax"
barbut "gambling"
bașca "different"
basma "handkerchief"
beci "cellar"
bei "governor"
belea "misfortune"
beizadea "son of gentle"
boi "to paint"
bre "hey"
briceag "pocket knife"
buluc "pile"
burghiu "drill"
bursuc "badger"
buzdugan "iron rod"
cabazlâc "joke"
cacealma "trick"
cadână "lady"
calcană "turbot"
caldarâm "pavement"
cântar "weighing"
capcană "trap"
caraghios "funny"
cat "storey"
capac "cork"
cazan "metal"
cearșaf "sheet"
chef "big party"
cherem "stay"
chiabur "rich peasant"
chibrit "lighter"
chioșc "kiosk"
chior "sees with one eye"
ciob "fragment"
cioban "shepard"
ciorapi "socks"
cișmea "installation"
ciubuc "beading"
cizmă "boot"
colan "girdle"
covată "trough"
cusur "defective"
cutie "box"
dulap "wardrobe"
dovleac "pumpkin"
dugheană "impoverished"
dușman "enemy"
dușumea "flooring"
făraș "shovel"
farfurie "plate"
felinar "lantern"
fes "fez"
fildeș "tusk"
fitil "suppository"
furtun "hose"
geantă "smaller bag"
geam "window"
get-beget "from ancestor to ancestor"
ghiveci "pot"
habar "idea"
haide/hai "come on"
haiduc "hajduk"
haimana "stray"
hal "bad condition"
hamal "carrier, portet"
hamam "bath"
harem "the cauldrons"
hașiș "hashish"
hatâr "service"
hazna "reservoir"
ibric "ibrik"
imam "reciter in prayer"
iorgovan "lilac"
iureș "impetuous"
lighean "basin"
macara "crane"
mahmur "sleepy"
maimuță "monkey"
moft "whim"
moșmodi "slow"
murdar "dirty"
musafir "guest"
mușteriu "client"
năframă "cloth"
nai "flute"
narghilea "hookah"
nur "glory"
oca "unit of measure"
pafta "threader"
pașă "high titled"
pașalâc "despotic rule"
patalama "diploma"
perdea "curtain"
sadea "pure"
șah "chess"
șal "shawl"
șerbet "sherbet"
sictir "trivial swearing
șiret "profiter"
sultan "ruler"
suliman "herbaceous plant"
surghiuni "exile"
tabiet "pleasure"
tacâm "set"
tacla "conversation"
tain "provision"
talaș "sawdust"
tarabă "type of table"
taraf "party"
taman "complete"
tavă "plate"
tavan "ceiling"
tembel "idiot"
tertip "arrangement"
teșcherea "memorandum"
tevatură "loud"
tichie "skullcap"
tinichea "tin"
tipsie "tray"
tiptil "slowly"
tizic "prismatic cake"
toi "banquet"
tuci "cast iron"
tutun "tobacco"
ursuz "sinister"
vizir "minister"
zaiafet "party"
zar "dice"
zaraf "moneychanger"
zeflemea "kidding"
zor "hurry"

Food and beverage loanwords of Turkish origin:

airan "doogh"
baclava "baclava"
cafea "coffee"
caimac "cream"
caisă "apricot"
cașcaval "cheese"
cataif "knafeh"
ceai "tea"
covrig "simit"
chefir "kefir"
chiftea "meatballs"
ciorbă "chorba"
dolma "dolma"
halva "sweet"
iaurt "yogurt"
musaca "moussaka
pilaf "pilaf"
rachiu/rachie "fruit spirit"
rahat "turkish delight
sarmale "cabbage rolls"
șofran "saffron"
susan "sesame"
telemea "telemea"
tulumbă "tulumba"

Many Ottoman and Phanariot Greek words have acquired pejorative meanings compared with their original meaning:

Turkish became and now is "bribe", since, like a pipe, it is offered to ease a deal.
Ottoman became .
Phanariot Greek became . Its cognate from French pragmatique has maintained a neutral meaning.

Arabic, rāḥa al-ḥulqūm'', through Turkish became Romanian .