Uncertain. If an internal development, augmentative of boroacă (“swelling”) inherited from Latin verrūca (“wart”), or a cognate of Italian brocca, inherited from Vulgar Latin *brocca, borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόχοος (prókhoos, “vessel for water”). Otherwise, borrowed from Hungarian bokál (“pitcher”) (possibly through Serbian), from Italian boccale, inherited from Late Latin baucalis, from Ancient Greek βαύκαλις (baúkalis, “container used for the cooling of wine”).
Not, as claimed by many dictionaries, from Hungarian *borkancsó, as this compound of bor (“wine”) + kancsó (“jug”) is not actually attested.
borcan n (plural borcane)
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
| nominative/accusative | (un) borcan | borcanul | (niște) borcane | borcanele |
| genitive/dative | (unui) borcan | borcanului | (unor) borcane | borcanelor |
| vocative | borcanule | borcanelor | ||