nobililor

Nobililor is the Romanian genitive plural form of nobil, used to talk about the noble class, i.e., the nobles, or the nobility. In Romanian historical and genealogical writing the term often appears as nobilimea or nobililor to refer to aristocratic groups and their privileges across different regions and periods. The word itself derives from Latin nobilis and entered Romanian through Romance and vernacular usage.

Historically, the concept of nobility in Romania overlapped with the estate of boieri (boyars) in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia and, later, with noble families in Transylvania under Hungarian and Habsburg rule. Members of the nobilitate or nobililor were typically landowners with hereditary status who could hold high offices, command military forces, or enjoy other privileges granted by rulers. The exact rights and responsibilities varied by region and era, reflecting wider European patterns of aristocratic privilege and political influence.

In the modern era, the legal privileges of the nobility were largely diminished as centralized state structures took hold. The term nobililor persists mainly in historical, genealogical, and literary contexts, used to describe past aristocratic groups or to evoke a sense of aristocratic heritage. Today, references to nobililor usually serve historical or cultural purposes rather than implying political power. See also: nobility, boier, nobil.