stăpân

See also: stapan

Romanian

Alternative forms

• stăpîn — old orthography

Etymology

Uncertain; only found in some Balkan languages. Possibly from a South Slavic *stopanъ, compare Bulgarian стопа́нин (stopánin), Macedonian сто́пан (stópan). Compare Megleno-Romanian stăpǫn and the Aromanian verb stãpuescu. Compare also Albanian shtëpi (“house”). The Romanian word may actually more likely be derived from an early version of this Albanian word (a form *stëpi, from Latin hospitium or Greek σπίτι (spíti)); for the ending, cf. the locative suffix used in Albanian, e.g. shtëpinë (“in the house”). The relationship between the word for "house" and the one for "master" is common in Indo-European languages (cf. Latin dominus < domus).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [stəˈpɨn]

Noun

stăpân m (plural stăpâni, feminine equivalent stăpână)

1. master, owner, possessor

Declension

Declension of stăpân

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) stăpân	stăpânul	(niște) stăpâni	stăpânii
genitive/dative	(unui) stăpân	stăpânului	(unor) stăpâni	stăpânilor
vocative	stăpânule		stăpânilor

Derived terms

• stăpânesc
• stăpâni
• stăpânie