iazmă

Etymology

 * possibly from a reduction of (cf. the variant ), in that it was believed to ward off apparitions, and is thus used euphemistically; compare the expressions cruce-n casă or bată-l crucea, which refer to the Devil. Other proposed etymologies are less likely, such as Slavic jazva ("wound"), old German ethma ("spirit").

Noun

 * 1) ghost, (evil) spirit, phantom, spectre, spook, fright