Etymology
Before being studied by ethnomusicologists, the doina type of song was known by many names varying from region to region throughout Romania and Moldova, "doina" being one of them. It was Constantin Brăiloiu, director of the National Archive of Folk Music, who proposed that the word "doina" be used to described all these songs.
The origin of the word "doina" is unknown. It could be Indo-European, since a similar form (daina) can be found in Latvia and Lithuania meaning "folk song".
Another possible derivation is from the Serbian word "daljina" meaning "furthering", because most doinas are about the feeling of "dor" - a Romanian word for "intensely missing" (similar to German Sehnsucht and Portuguese Saudade). "Daljina" is supposed to have become "doina" similarly to the way in which the word "haljina" ("clothing") became "haina" in Romanian.
Dimitrie Cantemir mentions "Doina" in his "Descriptio Moldaviae" among a series of old pre-Christian (Dacian) deities, persistent in popular oral tradition, noticing that "Doina, Doina" is a starting phrase incantation in many folk songs.
In the region of Maramureş the word "horă/hore" is still the most commonly used. The Maramureş "horă/hore" is not related to the word "horă" found in southern and eastern Romania, which comes from the Greek "choros", meaning "(circle) dance", but is derived from the Latin "oro/orare", meaning "to say/saying".
Most importantly, it is a Romanian word which translates into "shepherd's lament" or "shepherd's longing", which helps explain why doinas can be very melancholy, but have melodies that are rather poignant and heartfelt.
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