FOUR LAYERS, ONE ROMANIAN
What language do you pray in, when you pray in Romanian?
In four weighty words — Dumnezeu, icoană, veșnică pomenire, amin — stand four layers: Rome, Byzantium arrived mostly through the Slavonic channel, the Slavs, and Jerusalem arrived through the double channel. The collage below lets all of them sound at once.
Dumnezeu — icoană, veșnică pomenire: amin, aleluia.
The line lights word by word, each in the colour of its channel.
The four-colour key
- LATIN Dumnezeu
- GREEK VIA SLAVONIC icoană
- SLAVIC veșnică
- HEBREW VIA GREEK AND SLAVONIC amin
The colours show the route illustrated on this page — not a unanimous verdict of the dictionaries.
The short answer
You pray in Romanian. But the words of the Romanian prayer meet very different histories: Latin gave the foundation — Dumnezeu, cruce, rugăciune, preot —, Greek arrived mostly dressed in Slavonic — liturghie, icoană, iad —, Slavic gave the altar steps — rai, veșnic, popă, clopot —, and amin and aleluia lead, in the last instance, back to Hebrew. The Slavonic centuries laid them side by side, and Romanian gradually took Slavonic's place in print and in worship.
CHAPTER 1 · THE LATIN LAYER
What remained of Rome
Four words with no middleman: from Latin, straight into Romanian. The first is the very name of God.
LAT
Dumnezeu
Lat. dom(i)ne deus
DEX: “Lat. dom(i)ne deus”. Șăineanu unpacks the formula: DOMINE DEUS, i.e. “Doamne Dumnezeule!”. The formula is traditionally explained as an address — a vocative turned name.
C01 · DEX '09, Șăineanu
LAT
cruce
Lat. crux, -cis
DEX: “Lat. crux, -cis”. MDA2 records it at TETRAEV. (1574), after DA: the cross was already in books when Coresi was setting up his presses.
C02 · DEX '09, MDA2
LAT
rugăciune
Lat. rogatio, -onis
DEX: “Lat. rogatio, -onis”. MDA2 records it in COD.VOR. 136/4: prayer is recorded in the Voroneț Codex, one of the oldest kept Romanian writings.
C03 · DEX '09, MDA2
LAT
preot
Lat. presbiterum ← Gk. presbyteros
We had been told Slavic — the dictionaries say Latin. DEX: “Lat. presbiterum”; Scriban carries the thread further, to Greek presbyteros, “elder”. The Slavic double, popă, stands in chapter 3, with its popular mark.
C04 · DEX '09, Scriban
4 words · 0 middlemen
CHAPTER 2 · THE GREEK-VIA-SLAVONIC LAYER
Greek dressed in Slavonic
Three words of the same Greek family, become Romanian mostly through the Slavonic channel. For two of them — liturghie and icoană — the dictionaries do not reconstruct the last link identically: the cards marked “disputed route” show the difference.
GR/SL
liturghie
Gk. leitourgia · partly via Sl. liturgija
The immediate route is not given identically by every dictionary. DEX points to Sl. liturgija; DER starts from Modern Greek and allows Slavonic mediation in part. Certain is the Greek origin of the family; the exact road into Romanian reads with that reservation.
DISPUTED ROUTE
DEX ’09
Slavonic: Sl. liturgija
DER
Modern Greek, partly via Slavonic: Mod.Gk. leitourgia
C05 · DEX '09, DER
GR/SL
icoană
Sl. ikona / Mod.Gk. εἰκόνα — disputed route
DEX and MDA2 point to Slavonic as the immediate source: “Din sl. ikona”. DER allows Modern Greek, however, in part through Slavonic. The Greek origin of the family is clear; on the last link before Romanian the dictionaries do not give the same verdict.
DISPUTED ROUTE
DEX ’09 · MDA2
Slavonic: Sl. ikona
DER
Modern Greek, in part via Slavonic: Mod.Gk. eikona
C06 · DEX '09, MDA2, DER
GR/SL
iad
Sl. jadŭ ← Gk. Hades
DEX: “Din sl. jadu”. Șăineanu: Slav. adu, from Gk. HADES. Like icoană, hell passes through the Slavonic link — the old form ad still surfaces in texts.
C07 · DEX '09, Șăineanu
The building itself tells its story next door: biserică carries the name of the basilica. Continue on the neighbouring page →
CHAPTER 3 · THE SLAVIC LAYER
The altar steps
Slavic holds the altar steps: heaven, eternity, the priest's second name, and the voice of the bell.
SL
rai
Sl. raj
DEX: “Din sl. raj”. Short and clear: the Romanian word rai is Slavic.
C08 · DEX '09
SL
veșnic · Veșnica pomenire
Sl. vĕčinŭ · cf. Memory eternal
DEX: veșnic “Din sl. vĕčinŭ” (old variant: vecinic). The chant “Veșnica pomenire” is sung at the memorial service, after the printed order. DEX and DER link pomană to Sl. pomĕnŭ; GAER proposed instead a Romanian postverbal formation from pomeni. The English call it Memory eternal, the Slavs Večna pamjat: the same remembrance, in three garments.
C09–C11 · DEX '09, DER, GAER, Stavropoleos
SL
clopot
Sl. klopotŭ “noise”
DEX: “Din sl. klopotŭ”. Șăineanu explained the semantic shift as follows: “s'a luat efectul pentru cauză” — the noise would have become the object that makes it. With a required reservation: the “bell” sense is not certain for Slavonic (DER, after Bulg. klopot).
C13 · DEX '09, Șăineanu, DER
The Slavic prayer turned into thanks has its own house: the story of bogdaproste. Continue on the neighbouring page →
CHAPTER 4 · THE HEBREW-VIA-GREEK-AND-SLAVONIC LAYER
The end of the service comes from far away
The last words of the service travelled the longest road: from Hebrew, through Greek and Slavonic, into Romanian.
HEB→GR/SL
amin
Sl. aminŭ ← Gk. amin ← Hebr. amen
The ultimate origin is Hebrew amen. The form travels through the Greek and Slavonic tradition; for Romanian's immediate donor, the sources are not perfectly uniform: DEX points to Slavonic, while DER names both Modern Greek and Slavonic. MDA2 records it in COD. VOR. 165/6, beside prayer.
DISPUTED ROUTE
DEX ’09
Slavonic: Sl. aminŭ
DER
Modern Greek and Slavonic: Mod.Gk. amín, Sl. aminŭ
MDA2
Slavonic, Modern Greek and Hebrew
C14 · DEX '09, DER, MDA2
HEB→GR/SL
aleluia
Sl. aleluija ← Gk. ← Hebr. hallelu Jah
Two roads, one shout. DEX: aleluia “Din sl. aleluija”; DER unpacks Hebrew hallelū Jah and shows the variant aliluia coming straight from Greek, while the form aleluia passed through Slavonic.
C15 · DEX '09, DER
The 3,000-year journey of Easter, from pesach to the spring table. Continue on the neighbouring page →
CHAPTER 5 · THE HINGE
The Slavonic centuries
Stone spoke Romanian before the Bible did.
Church Slavonic was the language of the service and the chancery in medieval Wallachia and Moldavia: between the 14th and 16th centuries, nearly all charters, chronicles and service books were written in Slavonic, though people spoke Romanian in daily life. The way out was slow: the earliest Romanian deeds date from 1575–1590, and the princely chanceries wrote only Romanian no earlier than about 1655–1660. Two threads meet below — printed Romanian and Romanian in worship —, with a witness in stone between them.
PRINTED ROMANIAN
Brașov, 1559/1560
Coresi gives Romanian its first steady library: 10 Romanian books, among them Întrebare creștinească [1560], Tetraevanghel [1561] and Liturghierul [1570]. “The first book” has no place here: a Sibiu catechism of 1544 goes before it.
C22 · the year stays double until a print bibliography settles it
A WITNESS IN STONE
Câmpulung, 1635–1636
Stone speaks Romanian: the pisanie of the princely church, under Matei Basarab. The full reading of the stone has its own page.
C19 · the stone's page Continue on the neighbouring page →
ROMANIAN IN WORSHIP
Iași, 1679
Dosoftei puts the Liturgy into Romanian: the Dumnezăiasca Liturghie, printed at Iași in 1679 and reedited in 1683, becomes one of the great foundations of the Romanian liturgical language.
C24 · Analele Științifice Iași, Teologie 2017
PRINTED ROMANIAN
Bucharest, 1688
The whole Bible in Romanian, ordered and financed by Șerban Cantacuzino; the printing, begun in 1687 under him, finished at the start of Constantin Brâncoveanu's reign: a landmark of the language and the press, not the end of Slavonic in worship.
C23 · BMIM XVII-2003
ROMANIAN IN WORSHIP
Târgoviște, 1713
Antim carries the altar's language on: Antim Ivireanul's Liturgikon takes the Romanian service further, and the shift of worship into Romanian consolidates gradually, through the 18th century.
C25 · Revista Română de Istorie a Cărții, 2013
THE LISTENING COLLAGE
The etymological collage
Seven demonstration lines, stitched only from the passported words above. They are an editorial construction, not the text or order of the Divine Liturgy: a collage built to let the etymological channels be heard and seen. Start the collage and follow the colours, touch a word for its passport, or isolate one channel.
line 1/7 · Latin 4 · Greek via Slavonic 3 · Slavic 4 · Hebrew via Greek and Slavonic 2
line 1/7 · Latin 4 · Greek via Slavonic 3 · Slavic 4 · Hebrew via Greek and Slavonic 2
Rugăciunea noastră, Dumnezeule.
Our prayer, O God.
Icoana stă în fața altarului.
The icon before the altar.
Memory eternal.
Isolate one channel
The words' passports
Touch a coloured word in the collage and its passport lights here.
LAT
Dumnezeu
Lat. dom(i)ne deus
DEX: “Lat. dom(i)ne deus”. Șăineanu unpacks the formula: DOMINE DEUS, i.e. “Doamne Dumnezeule!”. The formula is traditionally explained as an address — a vocative turned name.
C01 · DEX '09, Șăineanu · DEX
LAT
cruce
Lat. crux, -cis
DEX: “Lat. crux, -cis”. MDA2 records it at TETRAEV. (1574), after DA: the cross was already in books when Coresi was setting up his presses.
C02 · DEX '09, MDA2 · DEX
LAT
rugăciune
Lat. rogatio, -onis
DEX: “Lat. rogatio, -onis”. MDA2 records it in COD.VOR. 136/4: prayer is recorded in the Voroneț Codex, one of the oldest kept Romanian writings.
C03 · DEX '09, MDA2 · DEX
LAT
preot
Lat. presbiterum ← Gk. presbyteros
We had been told Slavic — the dictionaries say Latin. DEX: “Lat. presbiterum”; Scriban carries the thread further, to Greek presbyteros, “elder”. The Slavic double, popă, stands in chapter 3, with its popular mark.
C04 · DEX '09, Scriban · DEX
GR/SL
liturghie
Gk. leitourgia · partly via Sl. liturgija
The immediate route is not given identically by every dictionary. DEX points to Sl. liturgija; DER starts from Modern Greek and allows Slavonic mediation in part. Certain is the Greek origin of the family; the exact road into Romanian reads with that reservation.
DISPUTED ROUTE
DEX ’09
Slavonic: Sl. liturgija
DER
Modern Greek, partly via Slavonic: Mod.Gk. leitourgia
C05 · DEX '09, DER · DEX
GR/SL
icoană
Sl. ikona / Mod.Gk. εἰκόνα — disputed route
DEX and MDA2 point to Slavonic as the immediate source: “Din sl. ikona”. DER allows Modern Greek, however, in part through Slavonic. The Greek origin of the family is clear; on the last link before Romanian the dictionaries do not give the same verdict.
DISPUTED ROUTE
DEX ’09 · MDA2
Slavonic: Sl. ikona
DER
Modern Greek, in part via Slavonic: Mod.Gk. eikona
C06 · DEX '09, MDA2, DER · DEX
GR/SL
iad
Sl. jadŭ ← Gk. Hades
DEX: “Din sl. jadu”. Șăineanu: Slav. adu, from Gk. HADES. Like icoană, hell passes through the Slavonic link — the old form ad still surfaces in texts.
C07 · DEX '09, Șăineanu · DEX
SL
rai
Sl. raj
DEX: “Din sl. raj”. Short and clear: the Romanian word rai is Slavic.
C08 · DEX '09 · DEX
SL
veșnic · Veșnica pomenire
Sl. vĕčinŭ · cf. Memory eternal
DEX: veșnic “Din sl. vĕčinŭ” (old variant: vecinic). The chant “Veșnica pomenire” is sung at the memorial service, after the printed order. DEX and DER link pomană to Sl. pomĕnŭ; GAER proposed instead a Romanian postverbal formation from pomeni. The English call it Memory eternal, the Slavs Večna pamjat: the same remembrance, in three garments.
C09–C11 · DEX '09, DER, GAER, Stavropoleos · DEX
SL
popă
Sl. popŭ
DEX marks it (Pop.) and sends it to “Preot”. For Romanian, the Slavic channel is the safe part of the story; DER carries the Slavic form further, to Medieval Greek πάπας.
C12 · DEX
SL
clopot
Sl. klopotŭ “noise”
DEX: “Din sl. klopotŭ”. Șăineanu explained the semantic shift as follows: “s'a luat efectul pentru cauză” — the noise would have become the object that makes it. With a required reservation: the “bell” sense is not certain for Slavonic (DER, after Bulg. klopot).
C13 · DEX '09, Șăineanu, DER · DEX
HEB→GR/SL
amin
Sl. aminŭ ← Gk. amin ← Hebr. amen
The ultimate origin is Hebrew amen. The form travels through the Greek and Slavonic tradition; for Romanian's immediate donor, the sources are not perfectly uniform: DEX points to Slavonic, while DER names both Modern Greek and Slavonic. MDA2 records it in COD. VOR. 165/6, beside prayer.
DISPUTED ROUTE
DEX ’09
Slavonic: Sl. aminŭ
DER
Modern Greek and Slavonic: Mod.Gk. amín, Sl. aminŭ
MDA2
Slavonic, Modern Greek and Hebrew
C14 · DEX '09, DER, MDA2 · DEX
HEB→GR/SL
aleluia
Sl. aleluija ← Gk. ← Hebr. hallelu Jah
Two roads, one shout. DEX: aleluia “Din sl. aleluija”; DER unpacks Hebrew hallelū Jah and shows the variant aliluia coming straight from Greek, while the form aleluia passed through Slavonic.
C15 · DEX '09, DER · DEX
THE GAME
Unriddle the service
Eight rounds, two kinds: word → channel and chain → word. Each round teaches one row of the sources table.
Round 1 · A
Which world does the cross come from?
See the verdict
Latin, with no middleman: Lat. crux, recorded in 1574.
C02
Round 2 · A
What does DEX say about icoană?
See the verdict
DEX: from Slavonic — Sl. ikona. But DER complicates the route: it allows Modern Greek, in part via Slavonic.
C06
Round 3 · A
Which world does heaven come from?
See the verdict
Slavic, short and clear: Sl. raj.
C08
Round 4 · A
Which world does the amen come from?
See the verdict
Hebrew, through Greek and Slavonic: Sl. aminŭ ← Gk. amin ← Hebr. amen. The ultimate origin is certain; on the immediate donor, DEX points to Slavonic, while DER names Modern Greek too.
C14
Round 5 · A
Which world does the priest come from?
See the verdict
Latin: Lat. presbiterum. The Slavic one is popa, not preot.
C04
Round 6 · A
Which world does hell come from?
See the verdict
Greek via Slavonic: Sl. jadŭ ← Gk. Hades. Here, unlike with icoană, the sources used do not differ on the last link.
C07
Round 7 · B
Which word hides in Sl. klopotŭ “noise”?
See the verdict
The bell: the effect for the cause — the noise would have become the object, after Șăineanu. The “bell” sense stays uncertain for Slavonic.
C13
Round 8 · B
Which word hides in Lat. rogatio?
See the verdict
Prayer: Lat. rogatio, recorded in the Voroneț Codex, 136/4.
C03
The numbers of the sample
Three sums worked from the page's sample and the stops above.
4 channels
illustrated in the page's sample
FROM THE SAMPLE DATA
13 words
followed with a dictionary passport
FROM THE SAMPLE DATA
≈ 129 years
between the start of the Romanian printed series tied to Coresi, 1559/1560, and the whole Bible of 1688
FROM THE HINGE STOPS
Latin 4 · Greek via Slavonic 3 · Slavic 4 · Hebrew via Greek and Slavonic 2
These numbers describe only this page's selection; they are not an estimate of the makeup of the Romanian religious vocabulary.
Three sayings that do not hold
All three are about words, none about belief.
“Preot is Slavic.”
The dictionaries give it as Latin: Lat. presbiterum, from Gk. presbyteros. The Slavic one is the other priest, popa — Sl. popŭ, marked (Pop.) in DEX.
C04 · C12
“Icoană and iad took the same road.”
Not quite. DEX gives both a Slavonic donor, but DER allows Modern Greek for icoană, in part through Slavonic mediation. For iad, the Greek → Slavonic → Romanian road is far steadier in the sources used here.
C06 · C07
“Church Romanian was always Romanian.”
No: the way out of Slavonic was a process, not a date. Coresi prints in Romanian from 1559/1560, Dosoftei gives the Liturgy in Romanian at Iași in 1679, Antim prints the Liturgikon in 1713, and the shift of worship into Romanian consolidates through the 18th century.
C22 · C24 · C25
How to read the map
This is a selection of words, not a statistic of the Romanian religious vocabulary. We separate the ultimate origin from the language a word seems to have entered Romanian through directly. When the main lexicographical sources used here propose different routes, we show the difference. The interactive collage is an editorial construction, not the text of a real service. The chronology follows a few landmarks of the passage from Slavonic written culture to Romanian, not a single date of change.
Questions
Five natural questions, with the page's answers.
Where does the word “Dumnezeu” come from?
From Latin: dom(i)ne deus, “Doamne Dumnezeule!” — an address turned name.
Does “liturghie” come from Greek or Slavonic?
It depends which dictionary you ask: DEX points to Slavonic, while DER starts from Modern Greek, partly via Slavonic. The Greek origin of the family is certain; the last link is disputed.
Does “icoană” come from Greek or Slavonic?
DEX and MDA2 point to Slavonic; DER allows Modern Greek, in part via Slavonic. As with liturghie: the Greek origin is clear, the verdict on the last link differs.
Why are so many Romanian religious words of Slavic origin?
Because Slavonic was for centuries the language of the service and the chancery in Wallachia and Moldavia, and many religious terms entered Romanian through that channel.
When did Romanian start being used in worship?
Gradually, not on a single date: Coresi prints in Romanian from 1559/1560, including a Romanian Liturgikon in 1570; Dosoftei gives the Dumnezăiasca Liturghie in Romanian at Iași in 1679, Antim prints the Liturgikon in 1713, and the use of Romanian in worship consolidates through the 18th century.
Sources
The dictionaries first, then the hinge stops, then the neighbours. Each etymology is checked directly in the dictionaries, with a link to the entry. Where the dictionaries differ, the table shows the difference.
The claims table
| ID | Claim | Source |
|---|---|---|
| C01 | Dumnezeu < Lat. dom(i)ne deus, “Doamne Dumnezeule!” | DEX '09, Șăineanu DEX |
| C02 | cruce < Lat. crux, recorded 1574 | DEX '09, MDA2 DEX |
| C03 | rugăciune < Lat. rogatio, COD.VOR. 136/4 | DEX '09, MDA2 DEX |
| C04 | preot < Lat. presbiterum (corrected from Slavic) | DEX '09, Scriban DEX |
| C05 | liturghie: DEX → Sl. liturgija; DER → Mod.Gk. leitourgia, partly via Slavonic | DEX '09; DER DEX |
| C06 | icoană: DEX/MDA2 → Sl. ikona; DER → Mod.Gk. eikona, in part via Slavonic | DEX '09, MDA2; DER DEX |
| C07 | iad < Sl. jadu < Gk. Hades | DEX '09, Șăineanu DEX |
| C08 | rai < Sl. raj | DEX '09 DEX |
| C09 | veșnic < Sl. vĕčinŭ | DEX '09 DEX |
| C10 | “Veșnica pomenire”, cf. Memory eternal | Stavropoleos, Memory Eternal |
| C11 | pomană: DEX/DER → Sl. pomĕnŭ; GAER: Romanian postverbal from pomeni | DEX, DER; GAER DEX |
| C12 | popă < Sl. popŭ, (Pop.) vs neutral preot; DER: Sl. popŭ from Mediev. Gk. πάπας | DEX '09; DER DEX |
| C13 | clopot < Sl. klopotŭ “noise”, with reservation | DEX '09, Șăineanu, DER DEX |
| C14 | amin < Hebr. amen; disputed donor: DEX → Sl., DER → Mod.Gk. + Sl., MDA2 → Sl./Mod.Gk./Hebr.; COD.VOR. 165/6 | DEX '09; DER; MDA2 DEX |
| C15 | aleluia via Slavonic; aliluia straight from Greek | DEX '09, DER DEX |
| C16–C18 | biserică · Paște · bogdaproste: one sentence and a link | the neighbouring pages |
| C19 | the Câmpulung pisanie, 1635–1636, in Romanian | the stone's page |
| C20–C21 | Slavonic as the service language; deeds 1575–1590, chanceries 1655–1660 | Costăchel–Panaitescu–Cazacu, Viața feudală, 1957 |
| C22 | Coresi, Brașov 1559/1560, 10 Romanian books | Petroaia, Danubius |
| C23 | the Bucharest Bible, 1688: the whole Bible in Romanian; ordered by Șerban Cantacuzino, printing begun in 1687, finished at the start of Brâncoveanu's reign | BMIM XVII-2003 |
| C24 | Dosoftei, Iași 1679: the Dumnezăiasca Liturghie, reedited 1683 | Analele Științifice Iași, Teologie 2017 |
| C25 | Antim, Târgoviște 1713: the Liturgikon | Rev. Română de Istorie a Cărții, 2013 |
Dictionaries
- Dumnezeu · DEX, Șăineanu
- cruce · DEX, MDA2
- rugăciune · DEX, MDA2
- preot · DEX, Scriban
- liturghie · DEX, DER
- icoană · DEX, MDA2, DER
- iad · DEX, Șăineanu
- rai · DEX
- veșnic · DEX
- pomană · DEX, DER, GAER
- popă · DEX, DER
- clopot · DEX, Șăineanu, DER
- amin · DEX, DER, MDA2
- aleluia · DEX, DER
The hinge
- Coresi, the 10 Romanian books (Danubius)
- Dosoftei, the Iași Liturgy, 1679 (study)
- Antim's Liturgikon, Târgoviște 1713 (study)
- The Bucharest Bible, 1688 (BMIM)
- Slavonic, the language of service and chancery (Viața feudală, 1957)
- “Veșnica pomenire” at the memorial (score)
Further reading
The neighbours
- Biserica-basilica: the building
- Paște-pesach: the 3,000-year journey
- Bogdaproste: the prayer turned into thanks
- Prima pisanie română: the Câmpulung stone
Type: Fraunces, Newsreader and Atkinson Hyperlegible, under the SIL Open Font Licence.