List of Romania county name etymologies

Last updated December 20, 2024

Many of the etymologies of Romanian counties are Romanian interpretations of Slavonic names (e.g.: Gorj and Dolj), as the administration documents in the Middle Ages Romanian Principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia) were written in this language.


County name	Language of origin	Meaning
Alba	Latin	Named after the city of Alba-Iulia ("The white city of Julius/(the) Gyula; in Hungarian Gyulafehérvár, "White castle of (the) Gyula; also Bălgrad, "White city" in several Slavic languages), probably from the white colour of the city walls.
Arad	Hungarian	Named after the city of Arad, formerly Urod (11th century) after the name of a Hungarian knight, probably from the root ur meaning lord, meaning a place, which belongs to your (-od/today:ad) lord (úr).
Argeș	Dacian	Named after the Argeș River, in ancient times Argessos, probably meaning "shiny".
Bacău	Hungarian or Slavic or Cuman/Pecheneg (Turkic) or Latin	Named after the city of Bacău, in medieval times known as Bacovia in Latin, possibly meaning "the road of Bachus". The area was an important source of wine for the Romans. Alternatively Bakovia or Bakova derives from a person name Bako, found in Transylvania and as well in Bulgaria. The name is considered Hungarian or a derivation from Proto-Slavic byk (meaning "ox" or "bull"), or of Cuman/Pecheneg origin. The region was very suitable for raising cattle.
Bihor	Hungarian, Slavic	The county's name is the Romanian equivalent of the former Bihar County, which originates from the city of Bihar. The Hungarian Bihar derived from the word vihar (tempest, storm), that is of Slavic origin; vihor (whirlwind).
Bistrița-Năsăud	Slavic and Hungarian or German	Named after Bistrița (Slavic, "rapid"), a city and river and the city of Năsăud (Hungarian Naszód, German Nussdorf, "walnut tree village"). It may be also possible it derived from a person name, documented in 1269 as Naswod (current Nesvady).
Botoșani	Romanian (Mongolian)	Several possible origins: botoș (tick), botos (big-mouthed), botoșei (booties) and where Batu Khan split a part of his armies, invading what is now the northern Balkans, Hungary, Austria and Bohemia. "Batu", also pronounced "Botu", means "firm" in the Mongolian language.
Brașov	Uncertain, possibly Slavic	Possibly from baras, fortress.
Brăila	Turkish	Turkish origin from the proper name "Ibrail". Among the earlier names are Ibraila, Brilago, Uebereyl, Brailov.
București	Romanian (Dacian)	From Bucur, personal name meaning "joyful", cognate with Albanian bukur (beautiful), assumed to be of Thraco-Dacian origin.
Buzău	Greek	Greek origin from Μουσαίος (Mousaios), the original name of the city of Buzău.
Caraș-Severin	Turkish and Slavic	Named after the Caraș River (Turkish Kara, "dark, black") and Turnu Severin (Romanian, "Northern Tower": turn is borrowed from German Türm, "tower"; severin is a Slavic word meaning "Northern").
Călărași	Romanian (Latin)	From călăraș, Historical term for "horseman" (military or courier). The word derives out of Romanian călare (riding), itself from cal (horse), Romanian cognate of Latin caballus.^[1]
Cluj	Hungarian, German or Latin	From the first part of Cluj-Napoca, deriving either from German Klause, "Mountain pass", Latin clusium, "enclosing", referring to the surrounding hills, or Hungarian Kolos, Miklós, after the first castellan of the local castle.
Constanța	Latin	Named after Constanța. The city, originally called Tomis, was renamed Constantiana by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine, in honor of his sister, Flavia Julia Constantia.
Covasna	Slavic	From Slavickvasny квасны, "soured, fermented", referring to the mineral waters of the region, with bubbles like beer and other fermented drinks.
Dâmbovița	Slavic	Named after the Dâmbovița River, from Дъб, dămb, meaning "oak"^[2]
Dolj	Slavic	From Dolu Jiu, the Jiu of the valley. The Jiu river flows through the county.
Galați	Cuman (Turkic)	From gala(t), borrowed to Turkish kala (fortress) (also, an unsourced speculation, ascribe the origin to a certain Galatian Celtic tribe)
Giurgiu	Unknown, possibly Italian	Possibly from Rossy vel Jargo, Jurcova or Zorio. (see external link). Possibly named after Giurgiu as the Genoese in the 14th century named it after San Giorgio , the patron of their city.
Gorj	Slavic	From Gora Jiu, "Jiu of the mountains". The Jiu river flows through the county.
Harghita	Uncertain	Possibly related to "Argeș" (Argessos), but the peculiar phonetic form indicates that there was an unknown intermediary language that was not Romanian, Hungarian or Slavic, possibly some form of Sarmatian or Scythian.
Hunedoara	Hungarian	"Hunedoara" is the transliteration of the Hungarian name "Hunyadvár" meaning "Castle of Hunyad." From Proto-Uralic *kuńa- (“to close eyes, blink”).
Ialomița	Slavic	Named after the Ialomița river, formerly known as Ialovnița, from Slavic jalov, "barren"^[2]
Iași	Possibly Sarmatian	Named after the Sarmatian Iazygi which lived in the 1st century. However, this does not explain the existence of other localities called Iași throughout Romania.
Ilfov	Slavic	Named after the Ilfov River, from Slavic "Elhovo" meaning "Alder" (Alnus glutinosa).^[2]
Maramureș	Indo-European	It originates from the Mara river which name is possibly derives from the Indo-European Mori (sea, still water) and Mors (dead).
Mehedinți	Romanian (Latin)	From the town of Mehadia, possibly be derived from the ancient Latin name of the colony: Ad mediam ("in the middle"). Mehedinți might also come from Mehadianți, as -ianțiu/-ianțu is a common ending for family names in the area.
Mureș	Latin	Named after the Mureș river, in Latin Maris ("murky").
Neamț	Romanian (Slavic)	Named after Piatra Neamț, neamț means "German" (from Slavic nemeti). The Teutons built a fortress there to protect the Bicaz Pass, which leads to Transylvania
Olt	Dacian or unknown	Named after the Olt river, known to the Dacians as Alutus (etymology unknown). Contemporarily it has been also described as Alouta (Aλoύτα) and Aloutaz (Aλoύταζ). The initial "o" could indicate a Slavic intermediary.
Prahova	Slavic	Named after the Prahova river. Prahova derives either from prag ("water cataract") or prah ("dust").^[2]
Satu Mare	Hungarian/Romanian	Named after the city of Satu Mare . Satu Mare means "Big village" in Romanian. However, the actual name derives from the Hungarian name Szatmár, itself possibly derived from the personal name Zotmar. Originally called by Romanians as Sătmar, it later it has been officially changed to Satu Mare and the meaning of "big village" came about through folk etymology as it coincidentally sounded similar to these Romanian words. Besides all of these, some suggest that the original root may have come from the German Salzmarkt.
Sălaj	Hungarian	Named after the Sălaj River, from Hungarian Szilágy "elm creek", composed from szil , "elm" and ágy "riverbed".^[3]
Sibiu	Slavic^[4]	Slavic: from sviba, "horn". Latin: from Cibinum, the name of the town of Sibiu as mentioned in 1191 - ultimately derived from the name of the river Cibin ^[4] that passes through the town.
Suceava	Hungarian	From Szűcsvár, "Town of the skin-workers", from szűcs, "fourrier" and vár, "city".
Teleorman	Cuman (Turkic)	From deli orman "thick forest" (lit. "mad forest").
Timiș	Possibly Latin	After the Timiș River, known to the Romans as Tibisis or Tibiscus, of uncertain etymology.
Tulcea	Uncertain, possibly Tatar	Named after the city of Tulcea. Meaning unknown. -cea is a common Turkish ending. There is a town with a similar name (Tulchin) in Southern Ukraine, reinforcing the Tatar hypothesis.
Vaslui	Cuman (Turkic)	Named after the Vaslui River, which shows a typical Cuman ending for hydronyms: -ui, "water".
Vâlcea	Romanian/Slavic	Romanian for "little valley", from vale, "valley" (Latin vallis). Also possibly from vlk ("wolf"), the name of a Dark Age Slavic warlord mentioned in Hungarian chronicles.^[5]
Vrancea	Slavic	Ultimately from vrana, "raven".

Historical counties

County name	Language of origin	Meaning
Bălți	Romanian	"ponds"
Caliacra	Greek	From "καλός" ("beautiful") and "άκρα" ("headland" or "edge" or "extremity")^[6]
Covurlui	Cuman	From kurgu, "dry" + suffix -ui, "water"
Cetatea Albă	Romanian (Latin)	"White fortress"
Câmpulung	Romanian (Latin)	"long plain"
Durostor	Greek	From the Roman name of Silistra, Durostorum, ultimately from the Ancient Greek Δουρόστορον (Douróstoron).
Odorhei	Hungarian	First part of Odorheiu Secuiesc, from Székelyudvarhely, "Market-town of the Székely"
Muscel	Romanian (Dacian?)	"hillock"
Soroca	Slavic	"magpie"
Vlașca	Slavic (ultimately Germanic)	"land of the Vlachs" (see Vlachs#Etymology)

Notes

↑ "călăraș". Dexonline (in Romanian).
1 2 3 4 Giurescu, p. 38
↑ Iordan, p.104
1 2 "A szászok betelepülése és a déli határvédelem átszervezése". Arcanum (in Hungarian).
↑ "Primele atestari documentare ale judetului Valcea". Direcţia Judeţeană de Statistică VÂLCEA (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2010-01-23.
↑ Трифонов, Трифон (2006). 700 наименования от българското черноморие (in Bulgarian). Варна принт АД. ISBN 954-8991-33-0. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2021-03-17.

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References

Giurescu, Constantin C. (1966). Istoria Bucureștilor: Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura pentru Literatura.
Iordan, Iorgu (1963). Toponimia romînească (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne.

List of Romania county name etymologies

Contents

Historical counties

Notes

Related Research Articles

References

See also