Considerations about the Romanian word: BRNZ

Alessandro Demontis
In the context of etymological research in the Romanian language, over 300 words have been
suggested being of Dacic origin. Among them the generic term for cheese is to be found. !he
word "R#$%& is still indicated in dictionaries as being of un'nown origin ()timologie
$ecunoscuta*, as we can see in the +uote below,
BRNZ, s. f., (2) brnzeturi, s. n. 1. S. f. Produs alimentar obinut prin coagularea i
prelucrarea laptelui. Expr. (am.) ! nu fi nicio brnz" (de cine#a) $ a nu fi bun de nimic.
(am.) ! nu face nicio brnz" $ a nu realiza nimic% a nu fi bun de nimic. (Pop.) (&uc"'
se sau du'te etc.) opt cu'a brnzei sau opt (i) cu'a brnzei nou", se zice cnd scapi (sau
doreti s" scapi) de o persoan" sup"r"toare. 2. S. n. Sortiment de brnz" ((), de caca#al
etc. ) Et. nec.
Sursa* &E+ ,-. (/--.)
!he )nglish -i'i.edia .age for the Romanian /anguage accounts for this theory with no sources
.rovided,
!bout 0-- 1ords found onl2 in 3omanian or 1it4 a cognate in t4e !lbanian language ma2
be in4erited from &acian.
(for example* barz" 5stor65, balaur 5dragon5, mal 5s4ore5, brnz" 5c4eese5).
0ur research has .ointed us to the wor' of Ion I. Russu (7imba traco'dacilor ' Editura 8tiinific",
(.9:* and of Ariton 1raciu (7imba daco'geilor ' Editura acla, (.;-*2 by having a loo' at
gastronomic terms of the )ast3)uro.ean languages, we have found out that the term "r4n56 has
cognates in 7olish, 8erbian, 9ungarian as well, in these cases not indicating cheese in general but
a .articular 'ind of shee. mil' cheese. All these terms are accounted as coming from the original
Romanian term, from which we have,
3 7olish, <r2ndza
3 8erbian, <renca (.ronounced, "ren!%a*
3 9ungarian, <renza
!he fact that the word has an almost .erfect match in writing, and is still in use also in 8erbia, a
geogra.hic location that .artly constituted the ancient Dacia along with southern Romania,
suggests us that it is highly viable that the term itself has arrived into Romanian from the original
Dacian word or root. 0n the contrary we dont consider viable that this term originated in 9ungary
or in 7oland, ex.ecially because while 7olish is a'nowledged to be a cognate language of 8erbian
(or, according to some scholars, a derivate* and 8erbian is attested as having been .art of Dacia,
we have no traces of direct linguistic relationshi.s between 9ungarian and Romanian or viceversa.
!his ma'es more acce.table that the term stemmed from a Dacian root or word, and then
s.readed to non3Dacian neighbor .o.ulations and languages.
!he 7olish form, <r2ndza contains the Y which sounds very much li'e the Romanian , and we
must s.ecify that the Romanian term is now written with # only due to a linguistic rule intruduced
in :;;< by the Romanian Academy of /anguage. 7rior to this modification the term was written
<3=>?@ and we can easily see the almost .erfect match with the 7olish word not only in its
.ronunciation, but also in its written form, since the 7olish = is substantially a modificated I, as
shown by the =>I relation between 7olish and 8erbian, e.g.,
3 7olish, <2Ao B <2Aa
3 8erbian, <ilo B <ila
these indicating the neuter and female 3
rd
singular for the .ast of the verb !0 ") (By in 7olish >>
Biti in 8erbian*.
!. &emontis
(( sept. /-(C