Etymology
With few exceptions, the words involved in the formation of Romanian number names are inherited directly from Latin. This includes the names of all the non-zero digits, all the connecting words (și, spre, de), most of the words and prefixes used to express the non-cardinal types of numbers (toți, ori, al, în- etc.), and part of the multiple names (zece, mie). The remainder are largely relatively recent borrowings from French, such as zero, dublu, triplu, minus, plus, virgulă, milion, miliard, etc., most of which are used internationally.
But the most remarkable exception is the word sută, whose origin is still debated. It is possibly an old Slavic borrowing, although the phonetic evolution from sŭto to sută proves hard to explain. A Persian origin has also been suggested.
Read more about this topic: Romanian Numbers
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)