Editing Romanian language (section)

== Classification ==
=== Romance language ===
{{See also|Romance languages}}
[[File:Romance languages diagram en.svg|500px|thumb|Romanian language, as part of the [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance]] sub-branch of Romance languages, alongside and related to [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]], [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]], and [[Istro-Romanian language|Istro-Romanian]]. All of these Eastern Romance languages are spoken in [[Central Europe|Central]], [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]], and [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]].]]
Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the [[Italic languages|Italic branch]] of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]], having much in common with languages such as Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese.<ref name="Stoica1">{{Cite book |last=Stoica |first=Vasile |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/50/ |title=The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands |publisher=Pittsburgh Printing Company |year=1919 |location=Pittsburgh |page=50 |access-date=8 October 2013 |archive-date=29 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112601/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/50/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Compared with the other Romance languages, the closest relative of Romanian is Italian.<ref name=Stoica1/> Romanian has had a greater share of foreign influence than some other Romance languages such as Italian in terms of vocabulary and other aspects. A 1949 study by the Italian-American linguist [[Mario Pei]], analyzing the degree to which seven Romance languages diverged from Vulgar Latin with respect to their accent vocalization, yielded the following measurements of divergence (with higher percentages indicating greater divergence from the stressed vowels of Vulgar Latin): 

* [[Sardinian language|Sardinian]]: 8%
* Italian: 12%
* Spanish: 20%
* Romanian: 23.5%
* [[Occitan language|Occitan]]: 25%
* Portuguese: 31%
* French: 44%

The study emphasized, however, that it represented only "a very elementary, incomplete and tentative demonstration" of how statistical methods could measure linguistic change, assigned "frankly arbitrary" point values to various types of change, and did not compare languages in the sample with respect to any characteristics or forms of divergence other than stressed vowels, among other caveats.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pei |first=Mario |author-link=Mario Pei |date=1949 |title=A New Methodology for Romance Classification |journal=WORD |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=135–146 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1949.11659494 |doi-access=free }}</ref> 

The [[lexical similarity]] of Romanian with Italian has been estimated at 77%, followed by French at 75%, Sardinian 74%, Catalan 73%, Portuguese and [[Rhaeto-Romance languages|Rhaeto-Romance]] 72%, Spanish 71%.<ref>Ethnologue, [http://www.ethnologue.com/language/ron Romanian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525155837/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ron |date=25 May 2020 }}</ref>

The Romanian vocabulary became predominantly influenced by French and, to a lesser extent, Italian in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sandiuc |first=Corina |date=1 November 2014 |title=Languages and cultures in contact: The French language and the maritime terminology |url=https://doaj.org/article/6eb325ddd1ea4f5eb41f3119f6ea3485 |journal=Diversitate Si Identitate Culturala in Europa |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |issn=2067-0931 |access-date=21 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040644/https://doaj.org/article/6eb325ddd1ea4f5eb41f3119f6ea3485 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Balkan language area ===
{{see also|Balkan sprachbund|Albanian–Eastern Romance linguistic parallels}}

While most of Romanian grammar and morphology are based on Latin, there are some features that are shared only with other languages of the [[Balkans]] and not found in other Romance languages. The shared features of Romanian and the other languages of the [[balkan sprachbund|Balkan language area]] ([[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]], Greek, and [[Serbo-Croatian]]) include a suffixed [[Article (grammar)|definite article]], the [[syncretism (linguistics)|syncretism]] of genitive and dative case and the formation of the future and the alternation of infinitive with subjunctive constructions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mišeska Tomić |first=Olga |url=https://archive.org/details/balkansprachbund00tomi |title=Balkan Sprachbund Morpho-Syntactic Features |publisher=Springer |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4020-4487-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/balkansprachbund00tomi/page/n45 27] |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schulte |first=Kim |title=Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-11-021843-5 |editor-last=Haspelmath |editor-first=Martin |pages=230–259 |chapter=Loanwords in Romanian |editor-last2=Tadmor |editor-first2=Uri}}</ref> According to a well-established scholarly theory, most Balkanisms could be traced back to the development of the Balkan Romance languages; these features were adopted by other languages due to [[language shift]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lindstedt |first=J. |title=Languages in Contact |publisher=Rodopi |year=2000 |isbn=90-4201-322-2 |editor-last=D. G. Gilbers |series=Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics, 28 |location=Amsterdam & Atlanta, GA |pages=235 |chapter=Linguistic Balkanization: Contact-induced change by mutual reinforcement |display-editors=etal}}</ref>

=== Slavic influence ===
{{Main|Slavic influence on Romanian}}
Slavic influence on Romanian is especially noticeable in its vocabulary, with words of Slavic origin constituting about 10–15% of modern Romanian lexicon,<ref name="VRLR" /><ref>{{citation |mode=cs1 |last1=Schulte |first1=Kim |title=Loanwords in Romanian }}{{dead link|date=October 2019}}, published in {{Cite book |last1=Martin Haspelmath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnKeVbwTwyYC&pg=PA243 |title=Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |last2=Uri Tadmor |date=22 December 2009 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-021844-2 |page=243}}</ref> and with further influences in its phonetics, morphology and syntax. The greater part of its Slavic vocabulary comes from [[Old Church Slavonic]],<ref name="Macrea">{{Cite book |last=Macrea |first=Dimitrie |title=Probleme de lingvistică română |publisher=Editura Științifică |year=1961 |location=Bucharest |page=32 |language=ro |chapter=Originea și structura limbii române (7–45)}}</ref><ref name="Dindelegan">{{Cite book |title=The Grammar of Romanian |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780199644926 |editor-last=Pană Dindelegan |editor-first=Gabriela |edition=1st |pages=3}}</ref> which was the official written language of [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldavia]] from the 14th to the 18th century (although not understood by most people), as well as the [[Sacred language|liturgical language]] of the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]].<ref name="Hitchins2014" /><ref name="HillAlboiu2016">{{Cite book |last1=Virginia Hill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VU0CwAAQBAJ&pg=PR15 |title=Verb Movement and Clause Structure in Old Romanian |last2=Gabriela Alboiu |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-873650-9 |page=xv}}</ref> As a result, much Romanian vocabulary dealing with religion, ritual, and hierarchy is Slavic.<ref name="Comrie2009">{{Cite book |last=Bernard Comrie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DR-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA266 |title=The World's Major Languages |date=13 January 2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-26156-7 |page=266}}</ref><ref name="Hitchins2014">{{Cite book |last=Keith Hitchins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j1ytAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |title=A Concise History of Romania |date=20 February 2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-87238-6 |page=19 |author-link=Keith Hitchins}}</ref> The number of high-frequency Slavic-derived words is also believed to indicate contact or cohabitation with [[South Slavs|South Slavic]] tribes from around the 6th century, though it is disputed where this took place (see [[Origin of the Romanians]]).<ref name="Hitchins2014" /> Words borrowed in this way tend to be more vernacular (compare ''[[wikt:sfârși|sfârși]]'', "to end", with ''[[wikt:săvârși|săvârși]]'', "to commit").<ref name="Comrie2009" />  It has also been argued that Slavic borrowing was a key factor in the development of {{IPAblink|ɨ}} (''î'' and ''â'') as a separate [[phoneme]].<ref name="Renwick2014">{{Cite book |last=Margaret E. L. Renwick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDToBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |title=The Phonetics and Phonology of Contrast: The Case of the Romanian Vowel System |date=2014 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-036277-0 |pages=44–5}}</ref>

=== Other influences ===
Even before the 19th century, Romanian came in contact with several other languages. Notable examples of lexical borrowings include:
* [[German language|German]]: ''cartof'' < ''Kartoffel'' "potato", ''bere'' < ''Bier'' "beer", ''șurub'' < ''Schraube'' "screw", ''turn'' < ''Turm'' "tower", ''ramă'' < ''Rahmen'' "frame", ''muștiuc'' < ''Mundstück''   "mouth piece", ''bormașină'' < ''Bohrmaschine'' "drilling machine", ''cremșnit'' < ''Kremschnitte'' "cream slice", ''șvaițer'' < ''Schweizer'' "Swiss cheese", ''șlep'' < ''Schleppkahn'' "barge", ''șpriț'' < ''Spritzer'' "wine with soda water", ''abțibild'' < ''Abziehbild'' "decal picture", ''șnițel'' < ''(Wiener) Schnitzel'' "a battered cutlet", ''șmecher'' < ''Schmecker'' "taster (not interested in buying)",'' șuncă'' < dialectal ''Schunke'' (''Schinken'') "ham", ''punct'' < ''Punkt'' "point", ''maistru'' < ''Meister'' "master",  ''rundă'' < ''Runde'' "round".
Furthermore, during the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] and, later on, [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] rule of [[Banat]], [[Transylvania]], and [[Bukovina]], a large number of words were borrowed from [[Austrian German|Austrian High German]], in particular in fields such as the military, administration, social welfare, economy, etc.<ref name="Dama 2006">{{Cite journal |last=Dama |first=Hans |date=2006 |title=Lexikale Einflüsse im Rumänischen aus dem österreichischen Deutsch |trans-title=Lexical influences of 'Austrian'-German on the Romanian language |url=https://www.philologica-jassyensia.ro/upload/II_1_Dama.pdf |journal=Philologica Jassyensia |language=de |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=105–110 |access-date=27 February 2022 |archive-date=22 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322012715/https://www.philologica-jassyensia.ro/upload/II_1_Dama.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Subsequently, German terms have been taken out of science and technics, like: ''șină'' < ''Schiene'' "rail", ''știft'' < ''Stift'' "peg", ''liță'' < ''Litze'' "braid", ''șindrilă'' < ''Schindel'' "shingle", ''ștanță'' < ''Stanze'' "punch", ''șaibă'' < ''Scheibe'' "washer", ''ștangă'' < ''Stange'' "crossbar", ''țiglă'' < ''Ziegel'' "tile", ''șmirghel'' < ''Schmirgelpapier'' "emery paper";
* [[Greek language|Greek]]: ''folos'' < ''ófelos'' "use", ''buzunar'' < ''buzunára'' "pocket", ''proaspăt'' < ''prósfatos'' "fresh", ''cutie'' < ''cution'' "box", ''portocale'' < ''portokalia'' "oranges". While Latin borrowed words of Greek origin, Romanian obtained Greek loanwords on its own. Greek entered Romanian through the ''[[apoikia]]i'' (colonies) and ''[[Emporium (antiquity)|emporia]]'' (trade stations) founded in and around [[Dobruja]], through the presence of [[Byzantine Empire]] in north of the [[Danube]], through [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] during Bulgarian Empires that converted Romanians to Orthodox Christianity, and after the Greek Civil War, when thousands of Greeks fled Greece.
* [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]: ''a cheltui'' < ''költeni'' "to spend", ''a făgădui'' < ''fogadni'' "to promise", ''a mântui'' < ''menteni'' "to save", ''oraș'' < ''város'' "city";
* [[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''papuc'' < ''pabuç'' "slipper", ''ciorbă'' < ''çorba'' "wholemeal soup, sour soup", ''bacșiș'' < ''bahşiş'' "tip" (ultimately from Persian ''[[baksheesh]]'');
* Additionally, the [[Romani language]] has provided a series of slang words to Romanian such as: ''mișto'' "good, beautiful, cool" < ''mišto'',<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Zafiu |first=Rodica |date=2009 |title=Mișto și legenda bastonului |url=http://www.romlit.ro/index.pl/mito_i_legenda_bastonului |url-status=dead |magazine=România literară |language=ro |issue=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921115041/http://www.romlit.ro/index.pl/mito_i_legenda_bastonului |archive-date=21 September 2018 |access-date=21 September 2018 |quote=There is no doubt among linguists about the Romany etymology of the Romanian word ''mișto'', but a fairly widespread folk etymology and urban legend maintains that the German phrase ''mit Stock'' 'with stick' would be its true origin.}}</ref> ''gagică'' "girlie, girlfriend" < ''[[Gadjo (non-Romani)|gadji]]'', ''a hali'' "to devour" < ''halo'', ''mandea'' "yours truly" < ''mande'', ''a mangli'' "to pilfer" < ''manglo''.

=== French, Italian, and English loanwords ===

{{further|Re-latinization of Romanian}}

Since the 19th century, many literary or learned words were borrowed from the other Romance languages, especially from French and Italian (for example: {{lang|ro|birou}} "desk, office", {{lang|ro|avion}} "airplane", {{lang|ro|exploata}} "exploit"). It was estimated that about 38% of words in Romanian are of French and/or Italian origin (in many cases both languages); and adding this to Romanian's native stock, about 75%–85% of Romanian words can be traced to Latin. The use of these Romanianized French and Italian learned loans has tended to increase at the expense of previous loanwords, many of which have become rare or fallen out of use. As second or third languages, French and Italian themselves are better known in Romania than in Romania's neighbors. Along with the switch to the Latin alphabet in Moldova, the re-latinization of the vocabulary has tended to reinforce the Latin character of the language.

In the process of lexical modernization, much of the native Latin stock have acquired doublets from other [[Romance languages]], thus forming a further and more modern and literary lexical layer. Typically, the native word is a noun and the learned loan is an adjective. Some examples of doublets:

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Latin and native doublets in Romanian
|-
!scope="col"|Latin
!scope="col"|Native stock
!scope="col"|Learned loan
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|agilis}} 'quick’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|ager}} 'astute’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|agil}} 'agile' (< French, Italian {{lang|fr|agile}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|aqua}}
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|apă}} 'water’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|acvatic}} 'aquatic' (< Fr {{lang|fr|aquatique}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|dens}}, {{Wikt-lang|la|dentem}}
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|dinte}} 'tooth’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|dentist}} 'dentist' (< Fr {{lang|fr|dentiste}}, It {{lang|it|dentista}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|directus}}
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|drept}} 'straight; right’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|direct}} 'direct' (< Fr {{lang|fr|direct}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|frigidus}} 'cold' (adj.)
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|frig}} 'cold' (noun)
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|frigid}} 'frigid' (< Fr {{lang|fr|frigide}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|rapidus}}
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|repede}} 'quick’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|rapid}} 'quick' (< Fr {{lang|fr|rapide}}, It {{lang|it|rapido}})
|}

In the 20th century, an increasing number of English words have been borrowed (such as: {{lang|ro|gem}} < jam; {{lang|ro|interviu}} < interview; {{lang|ro|meci}} < match; {{lang|ro|manager}} < manager; {{lang|ro|fotbal}} < football; {{lang|ro|sandvici}}/{{lang|ro|sendviș}} < sandwich; {{lang|ro|bișniță}} < business; {{lang|ro|chec}} < cake; {{lang|ro|veceu}} < WC; {{lang|ro|tramvai}} < tramway). These words are assigned grammatical gender in Romanian and handled according to Romanian rules; thus "the manager" is {{lang|ro|managerul}}. Some borrowings, for example in the computer field, appear to have awkward (perhaps contrived and ludicrous) 'Romanisation,' such as {{lang|ro|cookie-uri}} which is the plural of the Internet term ''cookie''; normally, the hyphen isn't used for plural endings and definite articles.

In some cases, there are multiple variants of loanwords, such as {{lang|ro|maus}}/{{lang|ro|mauși}} (masculine) and {{lang|ro|mouse}}/{{lang|ro|mouse-uri}} (neuter).

=== Lexis ===

[[File:CuvinteleLimbiiRomane.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|right|Romanian's core lexicon (2,581 words); Marius Sala, ''VRLR'' (1988)]]
{{Main|Romanian lexis}}

A 1988 statistic by Marius Sala is based on 2,581 words chosen on the criteria of frequency, semantic richness and productivity, which also contain words formed on the territory of the Romanian language. This statistic gives the percentages below:<ref name="VRLR" />

* 30.33% – words inherited from [[Classical Latin|Latin]];
* 15.26% – academic [[loanwords]] from [[Classical Latin|Latin]];
* 22.12% – [[French language|French]] loans;
* 9.18% – loans from [[Old Church Slavonic]];
* 3.95% – loans from [[Italian language|Italian]];
* 3.91% – words formed in Romanian;
* 2.71% – words of uncertain origin;
* 2.6% – loans from [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]];
* 2.47% – loans from [[German language|German]] (including [[Austrian German|Austrian High German]]);
* 1.7% – loans from [[Greek language|Greek]];
* 1.43% – loans from [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]];
* 1.12% – loans from [[Russian language|Russian]];
* 0.96% – words inherited from the [[Classification of Thracian|Thraco-Dacian]] substratum;
* 0.85% – loans from [[Serbian language|Serbian]];
* 0.73% – loans from [[Turkish language|Turkish]]

If the analysis is restricted to a core vocabulary of 2,500 frequent, semantically rich and productive words, then the Latin inheritance comes first, followed by Romance and classical Latin neologisms, whereas the Slavic borrowings come third.

{{bar box
| float= right
| width =
| title = Romanian according to word origin<ref name="VRLR">Marius Sala (coord), Mihaela Bîrlădeanu, Maria Iliescu, Liliana Macarie, Ioana Nichita, Mariana Ploae-Hanganu, Maria Theban, Ioana Vintilă-Rădulescu, ''Vocabularul reprezentativ al limbilor romanice'' (VRLR) (Bucharest: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, 1988).</ref><ref>Vocabularul reprezentativ diferă de vocabularul fundamental (VF) și de fondul principal lexical (FP). Cf. SCL (Studii și cercetări lingvistice), an XXVII (1976), nr. 1, p. 61-66 și SCL (1974) nr. 3, p. 247. Cf. Theodor Hristea, "Structura generală a lexicului românesc", ''Sinteze de limba română'', eds., Theodor Hristea (coord.), Mioara Avram, Grigore Brâncuș, Gheorghe Bulgăr, Georgeta Ciompec, Ion Diaconescu, Rodica Bogza-Irimie & Flora Șuteu (Bucharest: 1984), 13.</ref>
| titlebar = #ddd
| bars =
{{bar percent|[[Romance languages|Romance]] and Latin|red|78}}
{{bar percent|[[Slavic languages|Slavic]]|lightgreen|14}}
{{bar percent|[[Germanic languages|Germanic]]{{efn|German-based influence and English loanwords}}|gold|2.54}}
{{bar percent|[[Modern Greek|Greek]]|darkgreen|1.7}}
{{bar percent|Others|black|5.49}}
}}

Although they are rarely used nowadays, the [[Romanian calendar]] used to have the traditional Romanian month names, unique to the language.<ref>*''[[Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române]]'', [[Romanian Academy|Academia Română]], Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998</ref>

The [[longest word in Romanian]] is {{lang|ro|pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioză}}, with 44 letters,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bălhuc |first=Paul |date=15 January 2017 |title=Câte litere are cel mai lung cuvânt din limba română și care este singurul termen ce conține toate vocalele |language=ro |work=[[Adevărul]] |url=https://adevarul.ro/locale/iasi/cate-litere-mai-lung-cuvant-limba-romana-singurul-termen-contine-vocalele-1_587a0aa75ab6550cb86dda62/index.html |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417211225/https://adevarul.ro/locale/iasi/cate-litere-mai-lung-cuvant-limba-romana-singurul-termen-contine-vocalele-1_587a0aa75ab6550cb86dda62/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but the longest one admitted by the ''[[Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române]]'' ("Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language", DEX) is {{lang|ro|electroglotospectrografie}}, with 25 letters.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Electroglotospectrografie |encyclopedia=[[Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române]] |url=https://www.webdex.ro/online/dictionarul_explicativ_al_limbii_romane_dex98/51078/electroglotospectrografie |access-date=10 February 2021 |language=ro |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417203237/https://www.webdex.ro/online/dictionarul_explicativ_al_limbii_romane_dex98/51078/electroglotospectrografie |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Curiozități lingvistice: cele mai lungi cuvinte din limba română |url=https://www.dictie.ro/curiozitati-lingvistice-cele-mai-lungi-cuvinte-din-limba-romana |access-date=10 February 2021 |website=Dicție.ro |date=2 December 2020 |language=ro |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210080655/https://www.dictie.ro/curiozitati-lingvistice-cele-mai-lungi-cuvinte-din-limba-romana |url-status=live }}</ref>