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 (see Balkan sprachbund) 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 (DEX) published by the Romanian Academy continues to list many words as borrowings, though the work of other linguists (Sorin Olteanu, Sorin Paliga, Ivan Duridanov, et al.) 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.Lucian Boia, Romania: Borderland of Europe, Reaktion Books, , p.57 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. {| class="wikitable" ! Word / Name !! English !! Sources !! Notes – Alternative etymologies |- | abeș || really, for sure! || Hasdeu, Vraciu, Paliga || dialectal Banat; a+beș < IE *bhend(s)- 'to bind', cf. Albanian besëSorin Paliga, Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian, Bucharest: Editura Evenimentul, 2006, p. 60. '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(e) || steam, vapour || Hasdeu, Russu (Alb.), Vraciu, Paliga | Aromanian abur(ã); cf. Albanian avull Proto-Albanian *abulā 'steam, vapour'; cf. Romanian boare. Ultimately from Pre-Indo-European *AB- 'prominence, elevation' |- |aburca |'to climb up' |PaligaSorin Paliga, Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian, Bucharest: Editura Evenimentul, 2006, p. 27. |Prefix ab (see above) + 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- | | rowspan="2" |PaligaSorin Paliga, Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian, Bucharest: Editura Evenimentul, 2006. |Pre-Indo-European, spread across whole Europe. Inherited via Thracian. |- |adaru |I make; I set up, I set an ornament |Aromanian; from Indo-European *der-, dra- 'to work'; cf. Greek δράω, Lithuanian daraù, Latvian darît 'to make' |- |adulmeca |'to sniff, to smell' | rowspan="5" |Paliga |probably *ad-ul-m-ec-a. Substatum root -ulm- related to olm '''smell'; derivative suffix -ec also indigenous. Similar construction to adămană, ademeni. The Thracian root must be *olm-, *ulm- 'smell, to smell; to sniff; to track an animal for hunt' or dul-, dol- 'dog', see dulău, dolcă. |- |ag-|archaic 'to get to a thorn' |Cf. agănău, agăța. Related to Thracian names Aga-thyr-soi, Aeg-issus (Tulcea). agăța is seemingly derived from the same root. |- |Agaua|Agaua village, Brăila county |related to Agnita, Agăș, Agriș/agriș, cf. Agay, Provence, and Aigai, Greece. See ag-.|- |agănău|a kind of folk dance |related to root ag-. |- |Agăș|Agăș, Bacău county, Bihor county |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 (άγιος) 'holy' + -uță.Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică din București, Dicționarul limbii române moderne (Editura Academiei, 1958). |- |Agnita|Agnita, Serbia | rowspan="2" |Paliga |cf. Thracian, Ancient Greek Aegitna, AigaiosSorin Paliga, Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian, Bucharest: Editura Evenimentul, 2006, p. 29. |- |amurg, -uri|'sunset' |related to the name of the Greek island Amorgós, and amorgís, -ídos textile plant (Chantraine). Probably from Preie. *AM-, *AN-|- | andrea || knitting needle || Russu || Muntenian/Transylvanian undrea; from Andrea, Undrea 'December', from Greek Andréas 'St. Andrew's Day' (Nov. 30th); 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 (Alb.), Vraciu || plural argele; from Greek argaleiós; also Albanian dial. argali 'small, wooden loom' (< Gk) |- | baligă || dung, manure (used mostly for cow dung) || rowspan="2" | Russu (Alb.) || Aromanian baligã, Megleno-Romanian balig, Istro-Romanian bålege; from Old Albanian baljëgë (modern bajgë, dial. balgë, balëg, balëgë); also Serbo-Croatian bȁlega (< Alb) |- | baltă || pool, puddle || Aromanian baltã, Megleno-Romanian baltă, Istro-Romanian bote; from Albanian baltë 'swamp'. |- | barză || stork (Ciconia ciconia) || Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu, Olteanu || Oltenia bardăș, bardoș 'stork', Transylvanian/Aromanian/Megleno-Romanian bardzu 'white'; feminine of barz 'whitish (of birds)', from Albanian bardhë 'white', bardhosh, bardhash 'whitish' |- | bălaur, balaur || dragon, monster || Hasdeu, Russu (Alb.), Vraciu || from Serbo-Croatian blȁvor (variants blavur, blaor) 'scheltopusik', from Albanian bullar (var. buljar, bollar).Draucean, Adela Ileana (2008). "The Names of Romanian Fairy-Tale Characters in the Works of the Junimist Classics". In: Studii și cercetări de onomastică și lexicologie, II (1-2), p. 28. |- | băga || to insert, thrust || Russu || Aromanian bagu 'to put', Megleno-Romanian bagari; from Byzantine Greek bázo (βάζω) 'to put in or on, set down' |- | băl, bălan, bălaș || fair-haired, blond (person); white-haired (animal) || Hasdeu || from Albanian bal(ë) '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 (< Romanian); Canavese berro 'ram', Piemontese bero 'id.' (< Alb) |- | brad || fir (Abies) || Hasdeu, Russu (Alb.), Olteanu || Aromanian brad; from Proto-Albanian *brada (modern bredh). |- | brânză || cheese || Hasdeu, Russu, Vraciu || Aromanian brãndzã, Megleno-Romanian brǫnză; from Albanian brëndës 'intestines; rennet bag (made of stomach)', identical to rânză (< rrëndës) (see below); Romanian lent Transylvanian German Pränz, Slovak/Polish bryndza, which gave Austrian Brimsen.Alexandru Ciorănescu, Diccionario etimológico rumano (Tenerife: Universidad de la Laguna, 1958–1966).Lazăr Șăineanu, Dicționar universal al limbii române (Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, 1896). |- | brâu || belt, waist || rowspan="3" | Russu (Alb.) || dialectal brân, colloquial brână, Aromanian brãnu, Megleno-Romanian brǫn, Istro-Romanian brĕne; from Old Albanian *bren (modern brez 'belt; waist', mbrej 'to buckle'); replaced Transylvanian/Bucovina balț 'loop, eye(let), ring (of iron)' (cf. Aromanian balțu), from Latin balteus 'belt'. |- | brusture || burdock (Arctium lappa) || Aromanian broshtur, brushturã; from Albanian brushtull 'heather' |- | bucura || to be glad || also bucuros 'glad'; from Albanian bukuroj 'to beautify', bukurosh 'beautiful', both from bukur 'nice, lovely' |- | bunget || dense, dark forest || Hasdeu, Russu (Alb.), Vraciu || from Albanian bungI. Coteanu et al., eds. Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd edn. (Bucharest: Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan" / Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1996; reprint 1998). 'chestnut oak' + Romanian -et 'grove'. |- | burtă || belly, stomach || Russu || dialectal borț 'pregnant woman's belly' |- | buză || lip; edge || Russu (Alb.) || 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 (Melophagus ovinus) || rowspan="3" | Russu (Alb.) || from Albanian këpushë 'tick', derivative of kap 'to grip, snatch' |- | căpută || toe (of shoe); low boot || from Albanian këputë "sole (of shoe)", këpucë "shoe"; unrelated to Slavic kopyto "hoof" > Romanian copită|- | cătun || hamlet || from Albanian katund (dial. katun, kotun) 'village; herdsmen community; widely spread-out village"Bardhyl Demiraj, Albanische Etymologien (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997), 214–5. |- | cioară || crow || Sala, Hasdeu, Vraciu || Aromanian cioarã, Megleno-Romanian čoară; from Old Albanian *corrë (mod. sorrë) |- | ciut || hornless, poll; one-horned || rowspan="3" | Russu (Alb.) || dialectal șut; from Slavic; cf. Bulgarian/Serbo-Croatian šut; also Albanian shyt 'hornless' (connected to "sutë" (a doe, female deer) (an Albanism in the other Balkan languages) |- | curma || to stop abruptly, interrupt || older curmez, from Byzantine Greek kormázein (κορμάζω); cf. Albanian kurmua|- | curpăn || vine, twining stem || from Albanian kurpën, kurpër 'clematis', from kurp 'traveller's joy, old man's beard (Clematis vitalba)'; related to below. |- | cursă || trap, snare || Russu (Alb.), Olteanu || from Albanian kurth(ë), 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 (male sheep) || Russu (Alb.) || from Albanian dash|- | doină || lamenting folksong || Hasdeu, Vraciu || Transylvanian daină; from Lithuanian dainà 'folksong' (cf. Latvian daĩn̨a), derivative of Proto-Baltic *deî- (cf. Latvian diêt, dìet 'to dance, hop; sing') |- | 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