There are a few English words of Romanian origin. For instance, a very commonly used word, ‘ban’ is of Romanian origin. It meant a small coin in Romania and in American English it means ‘to prohibit or condemn’.
The Romanian language is not as intermingled with the English language as other European and Baltic languages are such as French, Italian, and Hungarian, but it is clearly having a presence. Another quite common Romanian word is a food every beef sandwich lover probably enjoys, ‘Pastrami’, the essential ingredient in the “Rueben”, composed of a smoked navel cut of beef (Pastrami) served on rye bread with sauerkraut and Russian dressing. It’s usually served warm.
Romanian is Baltic language brought to America with the migration of Romanian countrymen and women. Between 1895 and 1925, 145,000 Romanians migrated to the U.S. Common surnames of Romanian Americans include Andrei, Fischer, Hofer, Luca, Maier, Mayer, Muller, Reiter, Schmidt, Stefan, and Weber. With so much familiarity, it’s obvious Romanians and their language are a part of the American melting pot.
The common Romanian words used in American English are these slang words. They have made the greatest impression on the English language and are easily recognizable. These words are native to Romany gypsies and now we use them daily:
- Bar in English means a counter where food of liquor is served and in Romany it meant ‘store’.
- Dick in English means a detective or a male private part. The word in Romany means to ‘watch’.
- Gibberish means unintelligible speech in American English and in Romany it means your spoken tongue or language, ‘jig’.
- Lollipop means a hardened candy of stick that is sucked to be consumed in English and in Romanian slang, it is a red apple, and their actual words are, ‘loli phabai’ in Romany.
- Pal means casual friend in American English and translates to the Romany word ‘phral’ meaning brother.
More words used in English which are not quite as common are the following:
- Hora in English can be spelled horo or oro. It is a type of circle dance hailing from the Balkans but also found in other countries. The English version of this word also stems from the Hebrew word, horah; the Turkish word, hora; and the Greek word, khoros.
- Mineriad refers to the violent interventions of miners in Romania, but in American English is means mineral, something mined.
- Palatschinke is a crêpe-like pancake commonly served in Central and Eastern Europe. The word stems from the Latin word ‘placenta’ (cake) via Romanian word ‘plăcintă’ (cake).
No matter which language you research, American English has probably adopted it and changed it slightly as time passed. The same can be said of Romanian or the gypsy version, Romany.
