THE STORY OF TWO WORDS
What do “rai” and “iad” have in common?
DEX gives both words a Slavic origin: rai from raj, iad from jadu. Old texts make the story more interesting, though. In the 1889 transliteration of Coresi's Gospels, the 1560–61 edition, one book contains both Ad and Iad. Later, Neagoe Basarab and Antim Ivireanul use rai and iad side by side. The sources show us the forms; they do not explain every sound change between them.
- rai, from Sl. raj
- That is what DEX '09 gives.
- iad, from Sl. jadu
- DEX '09 again.
- Ad and Iad, 1560–61
- Both forms occur in the 1889 re-edition of Coresi's Gospels.
In short
What the sources say about “rai” and “iad”
Two words, two separate histories. Each form below occurs in an identified source: a dictionary or a dated text.
RAI
Sl. raj ETYMOLOGY
DEX '09 gives rai “Din sl. raj.” MDA2 gives “E: slv рай”, and DER lists related forms in Bulgarian, Serbian, Czech, Polish, and Russian. All of them point to a Slavic origin; none describes the sound changes to the Romanian form step by step.
rai, c. 1650 ATTESTED
Neagoe Basarab, the Teachings: “călcarea ce greși dentâi strămoșul nostru Adam în rai”. The date refers to the Romanian translation, c. 1650, not to Neagoe's reign.
rai, 1671–73 ATTESTED
Miron Costin, Viața lumii, after the school edition: “céle patru ape ce ies din rai”.
IAD
Sl. jadu ETYMOLOGY
DEX '09 gives iad “Din sl. jadu.” So does NODEX. None explains step by step how the Romanian form came about.
jadu or adŭ SOURCES DIFFER
DEX gives jadu, CADE gives adŭ, and MDA2 and Scriban record both variants. The consulted sources do not explain how the Romanian forms Ad and Iad relate to each other in sound.
ad and iad, 1560–61 ATTESTED
Coresi's text, in the 1889 re-edition: Ad at Matthew 11:23, Iad at Luke 16:23.
These are forms found in sources, not a step-by-step reconstruction of the sound changes.
Where they occur together
- Coresi, 1560–61 — Ad and Iad in one re-edition of the text.
- Neagoe, c. 1650 — “porțile raiului … iadul îl sparse” — after the Wikisource transcription.
- Antim, 1709–16 — “bunătăţi ale raiului … răutăţ ale iadului”.
The centrepiece
Ad and Iad in one book
The 1889 re-edition has Ad in one verse and Iad in another. Both passages below follow the 1889 transliteration. We normalized diacritics and removed end-of-line hyphens.
Matthew 11:23: Ad
“şi tu Capernaum ce pănă în ceri înalți-te pănă la Ad deștinge-veri” — after the 1889 transliteration of the 1560–61 edition. Here is the form Ad.
Luke 16:23: Iad
“muri și bogatul și îngropat fu. și întru Iad deșchise ochii lui” — the same book, further on, after the 1889 transliteration. Here is the form Iad.
What the dictionaries say
Scriban records ad as the old form; Șăineanu agrees: “Vechiu-rom. ad = slav. adu”. Coresi's text attests the form: ad also occurs in the re-edited text, not only in dictionaries.
What they do not say
No consulted dictionary explains the phonetic relationship between Ad and Iad. We see both forms in the re-edition, but the consulted sources do not explain how they relate.
Coresi, the 1560–61 Gospels — the 1889 transliteration (scan) →
Dictionaries and texts
What the other sources say
Beyond Coresi, other sources add a few useful details: the related Slavic forms, the dictionary variants, the etymology traced toward Greek, and two Romanian words with different histories.
The related Slavic forms
Forms related to raj occur across several Slavic languages. Old Church Slavonic has раи, and the Bulgarian Academy dictionary defines рай as the place where the souls of the righteous go. DER lists related forms in Bulgarian, Serbian, Czech, Polish, and Russian. (RBE, Wiktionary, DER)
The dictionary variants
For iad, dictionaries do not record the Slavic form alike: DEX '09 gives “Din sl. jadu”, MDA2 gives both variants, “vsl ꙗдь, адь”, NODEX gives jadu, CADE gives adŭ. Separately, MDA2 records a homonym iad², “venom, poison” — another word, with its own entry. (DEX, MDA2, CADE)
The link with Greek
DER traces the etymology to “Gr. ἄδης, prin intermediul sl. jadŭ”; Scriban and Șăineanu mention Hades too. DEX, MDA2, CADE, and NODEX stop at the Slavic form. Some dictionaries trace the word further back; others stop earlier. (DER, Scriban, Șăineanu)
Two words with different histories
Romanian also has the synonyms paradis and infern, but their etymologies differ: paradis comes from French (DEX adds German too), and infern is “Din lat. infernus” after DEX and “It. inferno (sec. XIX)” after DER. Both versions are presented without choosing between dictionaries. (DEX, DER)
The piece on “suflet” and “duh”
It never names heaven or hell — not once; checked on the text, zero matches. We mention it as an earlier episode, not as evidence. (sufletul-și-duhul)
From the dictionaries
Six sources, quoted directly
Six exact quotations, each with its source.
DEX '09: rai
“RAI1, raiuri, s. n. 1. Paradis, eden. 2. Fig. Loc din natură deosebit de frumos. … – Din sl. raj.”
DEX '09 (2009), via dexonline
DEX derives rai from Sl. raj, with no sound steps shown.
DEX '09: iad
“IAD, (2) iaduri, s. n. 1. (În multe religii) Loc în care sufletele păcătoșilor sunt supuse la chinuri veșnice…; infern, gheenă. … – Din sl. jadu.”
DEX '09 (2009), via dexonline
DEX gives the Slavic origin and the form jadu, just as directly.
DER: iad
“iad (iaduri), s. n. – Infern, gheenă. Gr. ἄδης, prin intermediul sl. jadŭ (Cihac, II, 145; DAR; Conev 107), cf. bg., sb., rus. ad.”
DER (Ciorănescu), via dexonline
DER traces the etymology further, through the Slavic form, to Gk. ἄδης.
MDA2: rai
“rai1 sn [At: CORESI, EV. 369 / Pl: -uri / E: slv рай] 1 (În diferite concepții religioase) Loc plin de încântare…”
MDA2, via dexonline
MDA2 cites an attestation “CORESI, EV. 369”. The passage was not verified in this project, so we do not use it as an independent attestation.
Șăineanu 1929: iad
“[Vechiu-rom. ad = slav. adu (din gr. HADES, locaș întunecat sau invizibil)]”
Șăineanu, 6th ed. (1929), via dexonline
Șăineanu records ad as the old Romanian form, from Slavic adu.
RBE: рай
“РАЙ … м. 1. … място в задгробния свят, където отиват душите на праведните след смъртта им…”
Bulgarian Academy (RBE), via ibl.bas.bg
The Bulgarian Academy defines рай by the same religious sense as in Romanian.
Findings
What we know and what we do not
In short: what is well documented and what stays unclear.
What the sources support
Dictionaries give both words a Slavic origin: raj and jadu. The same Slavic origin appears in DER, MDA2, Scriban, and Șăineanu too, though the etymological details differ. For Ad and Iad we have the passages from the re-edition of the 1560–61 Coresi text. For rai, the earliest passage verified here is Neagoe's Romanian translation, from around 1650. MDA2 points to a Coresi occurrence too, but that passage was not verified in this project.
Where they occur together
Rai and iad occur together in two dated texts: Neagoe, c. 1650 (“porțile raiului … iadul îl sparse”, after the Wikisource transcription), Antim, 1709–1716 (“bunătăţi ale raiului … răutăţ ale iadului”).
Differences
Three points where the sources differ: the first letter of the Slavic form (jadŭ or adŭ); Hades, mentioned or not; infern — Latin after DEX, Italian after DER.
What we do not know
The consulted dictionaries give the etymologies, but they do not reconstruct the sound changes step by step; nor is the relationship between the forms Ad and Iad explained. For a sixteenth-century attestation of “rai”, MDA2 points to Coresi, but that passage was not verified here. We draw no conclusions from these two points.
Chronology
Four dates
Four dates between 1560 and 1716, each with its source.
Coresi: Ad and Iad
1560–61
Matthew 11:23 with Ad, Luke 16:23 with Iad — after the 1889 transliteration of the 1560–61 edition. Both forms occur in the re-edition.
Date 1 of four
Neagoe: the pair
c. 1650
“ne dășchise porțile raiului … iar iadul îl sparse” and “Cei drepți vor mérge în mirosul cel bun al raiului” — after the Wikisource transcription. The date refers to the Romanian translation, not to the reign.
Date 2 of four
Costin: heaven
1671–73
“céle patru ape ce ies din rai” — Viața lumii, after the school edition. The consulted edition dates the text to 1671–73.
Date 3 of four
Antim: the pair
1709–16
“bunătăţi ale raiului … răutăţ ale iadului” — the Didahii, preached at Bucharest or Târgoviște, after the book's text.
Date 4 of four
Four dates, four sources: the 1889 transliteration for Coresi, Wikisource for Neagoe, the school edition for Costin, the book's text for Antim.
Differences
Where the sources differ
The sources differ in three points. We present them separately. SOURCES DIFFER
The Slavic form: jadŭ or adŭ?
DEX '09 gives jadu, CADE gives adŭ, MDA2 and Scriban give both variants — ꙗдь and адь, ĭadŭ and adŭ. The consulted sources give no crossing rule between Romanian Ad and Iad.
Hades: mentioned or not?
DER takes the etymology to “Gr. ἄδης, prin intermediul sl. jadŭ”; Scriban and Șăineanu mention it too. DEX, MDA2, CADE, and NODEX stop at the Slavic form. Some dictionaries trace the etymology further into the past; others do not.
Infern: Latin or Italian?
DEX gives infern “Din lat. infernus”, DER gives it “It. inferno (sec. XIX)”. The difference concerns the learned synonyms, not the etymology of “rai” or “iad”; both quotations are presented as they stand.
Here we do not choose between versions; we present them separately. What stands firm: the Slavic origin of both words, the two forms, Ad and Iad, in the Coresi re-edition, and two dated pairs.
The consulted sources support the Slavic origin of both words; but the Slavic form given for “iad” differs from one dictionary to another.
Test yourself
Which is older?
Six dates from the page, from Coresi to DEX. For Coresi we use the re-edited text's date, 1560–61; the consulted copy is the 1889 re-edition. Set them from the oldest to the newest.
Move each card with the up–down arrows, then check the order.
- 1709–16
Antim: the pair
- 1560–61
Coresi: Ad and Iad
- 2009
DEX: both, Slavic origin
- 1671–73
Costin: heaven
- 1929
Șăineanu: ad = adu
- c. 1650
Neagoe: the pair
Result: 0 of 6
The correct order, oldest first
- 1560–61 — Coresi: Ad and Iad
- c. 1650 — Neagoe: the pair
- 1671–73 — Costin: heaven
- 1709–16 — Antim: the pair
- 1929 — Șăineanu: ad = adu
- 2009 — DEX: both, Slavic origin
For ranges, the order uses the first year.
Sources
Every quotation on the page points at one of the addresses below: dictionaries through dexonline, texts through scans and editions.
The Slavic forms
- RBE: РАЙ (dictionary)
- Wiktionary: раи, Old Church Slavonic (dictionary)
- Wiktionary in Russian (dictionary)
Dictionaries and texts
- DEX '09: rai (dictionary)
- DEX '09: iad (dictionary)
- DER: rai (dictionary)
- DER: iad (dictionary)
- MDA2: rai (dictionary)
- Șăineanu: iad (dictionary)
- NODEX: iad (dictionary)
- CADE: iad (dictionary)
- CADE: ad (dictionary)
- Scriban: iad (dictionary)
- Coresi, the 1560–61 Gospels — the 1889 transliteration (scan)
- Neagoe c.1650: the Teachings (text)
- Costin 1671–73: Viața lumii (PDF)
- Antim 1709–16: the Didahii (scan)
The learned synonyms
Catalogue neighbours
- articolul-de-la-coada: the tail machine
- verbul-a-fi: the Latin melt
- dusmanul-gand-rau: the ill mind
- gagiu: the civilian trial
- bogatul: the god scales
- oastea: the old army
- sufletul-și-duhul: the past episode
- prietenul: the friendship ladder
- dragostea: the love tree
- hotarul: the Hungarian line
- geamul: the Turkish pane
- surubul: the two doors
- inima: the soul in the chest
- femeia: the narrowed household
Type: Fraunces and Source Serif 4, under the SIL Open Font Licence.