cauza

Cauza is a noun with roots in Latin and is used in Romanian as well as in several Romance languages. The Latin cognate causa means reason, motive, or a legal or formal case, and this sense has spread into modern languages as causa, cause, or similar forms. In Romanian, the standard spelling is cauză (with diacritic), though non-diacritic renderings such as cauza appear in imperfect or nonstandard texts.

In Romanian, cauză has multiple closely related uses. It can denote the cause or reason for something, as in a cauză a accidentului (the cause of the accident). It also designates a case or matter in legal and administrative contexts, for example cauzele penale (criminal cases) or cauze civile (civil cases). In everyday language, a common phrase is în această cauză, meaning in this case or in this matter. The plural form is cauze.

In other Romance languages, cognates of cauză are widespread. In Italian, causa means cause or reason; in Spanish, causa likewise denotes cause or reason and can refer to a legal case (causa penal). Portuguese uses causa in similar senses, including both cause and a legal case, and the French root cause appears less directly in the modern language but shares the same origin.

Philosophical and legal terminology also uses the Latin causa in phrases such as causa sui (the cause of itself) or causa petendi (the cause of bringing a suit). Overall, causa and its Romanian descendant cauză sit at the intersection of reason, justification, and formal legal proceedings across several languages.