Title translation "Dragostea din tei" is written in Romanian and the title is not easy to translate, due to the lack of context for the phrase. There are several proposed translations of the title, such as Love from the lime trees and Love out of the linden trees. The intended translation is possibly shown in the subtitles of the music video by O-Zone, which translates it as Love of the linden tree. It is known that linden trees have strong lyrical associations in Moldovan poetry, tied to the work of the Moldovan poet Mihai Eminescu. Therefore the expression may be interpreted as romantic, "linden-type" love. Another interpretation of the title is a simple paraphrase of a popular Romanian children's book, "Pupăza din tei" by Ion Creangă (in translation "The Hoopoe in the linden tree").

Another very likely translation takes into account the neighborhood "Tei" in Bucharest, the capital of Romania (in Romanian, "Cartierul Tei"). Since it's a place very popular with college students (several dorms in the area) and youngsters in general, the connection is there ("Love in Tei" as in "Love among young people"). In spring especially, many young pairs can be seen in the parks and streets in Tei, and "love is in the air" - even though it might be love that lasts just for a little while; the song alludes to this.

The third translation comes directly from a native Moldovan. He claims that the title uses a wordplay and simply means "Love at first sight" (i.e. "Love from the linden trees", roughly analogous to "Love from the clear blue sky" in English, with the added associations that linden trees have in the Romanian language). This translation obviously rises above the literal meanings of the words and draws on something more poetic and specific to the language and culture. Given that O-Zone is from Moldova, where Romanian is spoken (along with Russian), it seems quite plausible that this interpretation is accurate. Furthermore, it provides something more universally meaningful, as the idea of love at first sight is understood more globally than the idea of love having to do with linden trees

On the Internet Numa Numa (or "the Numa Numa Dance") is an Internet phenomenon based on amateur videos, particularly one by Gary Brolsma, made for the song "Dragostea din tei" by Moldovan pop band O-Zone. It made it into one of the 100 Funniest Moments, broadcast by Channel 4 in the UK.

The phrase "Numa Numa" comes from the chorus of the song, "nu mă, nu mă iei," meaning, roughly, "you won't, you won't take me."

The Numa Numa dance is a popular Internet meme that has spawned many parodies. Many of them are on Newgrounds and Google Video.

Thousands of amateur videos of people recreating the dance have appeared on YouTube. A lot of themes have been chosen for Numa Numa parodies. Video game characters have been chosen to be used in parodies, such as Mario, Luigi, River City Ransom, and Homestar Runner. There have also been items used for videos, such as Lego bricks and army men. In addition, a parody of the infamous "Angry German Kid" video was made including Numa Numa and Star Wars kid.

German Dragostea din Tei bedeutet im Rumänischen wörtlich übersetzt "Liebe unter den Lindenbäumen" oder "Lindenblütenliebe". Im übertragenen Sinn ist damit eine Wunschliebe oder eine unerfüllte Liebe gemeint. Der Refrain des Liedes

   Vrei să pleci dar nu mă nu mă iei
   Nu mă nu mă iei nu mă nu mă nu mă iei.
   Chipul tău şi dragostea din tei
   Mi-amintesc de ochii tăi.

lautet übersetzt etwa:

   Du willst gehen, doch du nimmst mich nicht mit
   Nimmst mich, nimmst mich nicht, nimmst mich, nimmst mich, nimmst mich nicht mit.
   Dein Antlitz und meine unerfüllte Liebe zu dir
   Erinnern mich deiner Augen.

Da die Melodie und der Rhythmus sehr eingängig sind (Dance/Pop-Stil), empfanden es die meisten Fans nicht als großen Mangel, dass sie den rumänischen Liedtext nicht verstanden.

Das Lied erschien erstmals 2003 im zweiten Album der Band, DiscOzone. Der Komponist und Texter des Songs ist der O-Zone-Songwriter Dan Bălan. Er produzierte zusammen mit dem New Yorker DJ Lucas Prata auch eine englischsprachige Version des Liedes zur gleichen Melodie mit dem Titel "Mai A Hee".

Weitere Aufmerksamkeit bekam das Lied durch einige Amateurvideos. Das beliebteste dieser Amateurvideos zeigt einen 19-jährigen Amerikaner, der, von seiner Webcam gefilmt, das Lied engagiert lippensynchron mitsingt. Es wurde im Internet unter dem Namen "Numa Numa" bekannt und trug erheblich zur Popularisierung des Originals bei.

O-ZONE LYRICS "Dragostea Din Tei" Ma-ia-hii Ma-ia-hoo Ma-ia-ha Ma-ia-ha-ha 1

Alo, salut, sunt eu, un haiduc, Si te rog, iubirea mea, primeºte fericirea. Alo, alo, sunt eu Picasso, Þi-am dat beep, ºi sunt voinic, Dar sa ºtii nu-îþi cer nimic.

2 Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei, Nu ma, nu ma iei, Nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei. Chipul tau ºi dragostea din tei, Mi-amintesc de ochii tai. 3

Te sun, sº-îþi spun, ce simt acum, Alo, iubirea mea, sunt eu, fericirea. Alo, alo, sunt iaraºi eu, Picasso, Þi-am dat beep, ºi sunt voinic, Dar sa ºtii nu-iþi cer nimic.

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Ma-ia-hii Ma-ia-hoo Ma-ia-ha Ma-ia-haa 4

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