Borrowed fromRomanianleu(“lion”), fromLatinleō(“lion”).Doublet ofLeo,lev,lion, andLyon.
leu (plurallei)
- The unit of currency ofRomania, equal to one hundredbani.
- The unit of currency ofMoldova, equal to one hundred bani.
FromLatinlocus.
leu m (pluralleus)
- (Morvan)place
leu m (pluralleus)
- leu(currency of Romania)
- leu(currency of Moldova)
Inherited fromOld Frenchleu, fromLatinlupus.
IPA(key): /lø/
leu m (feminineleuve,pluralleus)
- (Troyen)wolf
- Daunay, Jean (1998)Parlers de Champagne : Pour un classement thématique du vocabulaire des anciens parlers de Champagne (Aube - Marne - Haute-Marne)[1] (in French), Rumilly-lés-Vaudes
- Baudoin, Alphonse (1885)Glossaire de la forêt de Clairvaux[2] (in French), Troyes
FromRomanianleu.
leu
- leu(unit of currency of Romania and Moldova)
FromRomanianleu(“lion”).Doublet oflion.
leu m (plurallei)
- leu(currency of Romania)
leu m (plurallei)
- leu
leu
- third-personsingularpreteriteindicative ofler
leu
- pastparticiple oflire
FromLatinlupus.
leuoblique singular, m (oblique pluralleus,nominative singularleus,nominative pluralleu)
- wolf(animal)
- Middle French:leu
- ⇒ Middle French:loup
FromLatinlocus.
leuoblique singular, m (oblique pluralleus,nominative singularleus,nominative pluralleu)
- place
1260–1267,Brunetto Latini, “Cist premiers livres parole de la naissance de toutes choses [This first book talks about the birth of all things]” (chapter 1),Livre I - Premiere partie, inLivres dou Tresor [Book of Treasures]; republished as Polycarpe Chabaille, compiler,Li livres dou tresor par Brunetto Latini[4], Paris: Imprimerie impériale,1863,page 1:si come li sires qui vuet en petitleu amasser choses de grandisme vaillance[…] por acroistre son pooir[…] i met il les plus chieres choses et les plus precieux joiaus que il puet, selonc sa bone entencion, tout autressi est li cors de cest livre compilez de sapience- Just like the lord, who wants to accumulate very valuable things in a tinyplace […] in order to increase his power, […] puts there—according to his good intention—the dearest things and the most precious jewels he can, so the body of this book is filled with knowledge
leu
- third-personpluralaccusative ofla
- c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published inThesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb.5b20
trisin intamail sin .i. combad ǽtleu buid domsa i n-irisset duús in intamlitis- through that imitation, i.e. so that there may be jealousywith them for me to be in faith and if by chance they might imitate [me]
- c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published inThesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 97d10
Is peccad díabul lesom .i. fodord doib di dommatu, ⁊ du·fúairthed níleu fora sáith din main, ⁊ todlugud inna féulæ ɔ amairis nánda·tibérad Día doïb, ⁊ nach coimnacuir ⁊ issi dano insin ind frescissiu co fochaid.- It is a double sin in his opinion, i.e. the murmuring by them of want, although there remained some of the mannawith them upon their satiety, and demanding the meat with faithlessness that Good would not give it to them, and [even] that he could not; therefore that is the expectation with testing.
FromSpanishlejos andFrenchloin .
leu
- far
Borrowed fromRomanianleu(“leu; lion”).
leu m (pluralleus)
- leu(currency unit of Romania and Moldova)
leu
- third-personsingularpreteriteindicative ofler
Probably a later learned borrowing fromLatinleō(“lion”) (around the 17th century), itself fromAncient Greekλέων(léōn). If inherited from the nominative form, the expected result in Romanian would have been*ieu (asiepure fromleporem); furthermore, all the other Romance cognates were derived from the accusative formleōnem or genitiveleōnis (and some were borrowings themselves). Cf. alsolăun andLăune(le)(“a river in Romania”), as well asleoaie.
For the name of the currency, it was probably based on the Dutchleeuwendaalder(“lion thaler/dollar”), which depicted a lion; comparedaalder, also GermanLöwenthaler. This traces back to the 17th century, when the Dutch currency was used in the Romanian principalities.
Another explanation gives the origin of this sense as acalque ofTurkisharslan(“lion”), which was also used to refer to a type of currency with a lion on it; see alsopiastru (Englishpiastre). Compare also the sense of currency with Bulgarianлев(lev).
leu m (plurallei)
- lion
- leu(Romanian and Moldovan unit of currency)
1991 November 21,Constitution of Romania,title 4, article 136, point 2, inMonitorul Oficial[5], year 3, number233,Bucharest, page21:Moneda națională esteleul, iar subdiviziunea acestuia, banul.- The national currency is theleu, and its subunit is the ban.
Derived fromRomanianleu(“lion”).
leu m inan (nominativeplurallei)
- leu(currency of Romania)
- This noun can also be undeclined.
- “leu”, inSlovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak),https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk,2003–2025
Borrowed fromRomanianleu.
leu m (plurallei)
- leu
FromOld Frenchleu, fromLatinlupus.
leu m (pluralleus)
- wolf
- “Leu” in Laurent Remacle,Dictionnaire wallon-français (1852).
- “Leu” in Joseph Hubert,Dictionnaire wallon-liégeois et français (1853).
