Comparison of French and Romanian vocabulary
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The French Wikipedia has an interesting chart here comparing vocabulary between French and Romanian, some of which is nearly identical but also with a number of interesting half-cognates, similar to German sterben (die), half-cognate with English starve. In other words, examples of semantic change.
The word apă is particularly interesting, as though it is technically cognate with Latin aqua it more resembles the Lithuanian upė (river) and Persian âb (آب, water) even in its modern form.
French (English) | Romanian | Pronunciation | French word with same origin | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
pays (country) | ţară | ['tsa.rə] | terre (earth) | ||
terre (earth) | pământ | [pə'mɨnt] | pavé (pavement, latin pavimentum) | ||
ciel (sky) | cer | [ʧer] | ciel | ||
eau (water) | apă | ['a.pə] | eau (latin aqua) | ||
feu (fire) | foc | [fok] | feu | ||
homme (human being) | om | [om] | homme | ||
homme (person) | bărbat | [bər'bat] | barbu (bearded man) | ||
femme (woman) | femeie | [fe'me.je] (ie : diphtongue) | féminin, femelle | ||
mou (soft) | moale | ['mǒa.le] (oa : diphtongue) | mou (latin mollis, -e) | ||
manger (eat) | a mânca | [a.mɨn'ka] | manger | ||
boire (drink) | a bea | [a'běa] (ea : diphtongue) | boire | ||
mer (sea) | mare | ['ma.re] | mer | ||
petit (small) | mic | [mik] | mie (crumb) | ||
nuit (night) | noapte | ['nǒap.te] (oa : diphtongue) | nuit | ||
jour (day) | zi | [zi] | -di (lundi, mardi, etc. - latin dies) | ||
front (front) | frunte | ['frun.te] | front | ||
tempe (temple - anatomy) | tâmplă | ['tɨm.plə] | tempe | ||
temple (temple) | templu | ['tem.plu] | temple | ||
menuisier (joiner) | tâmplar | [tɨm'plar] | templier (templar) |
3 comments:
Sellamat Dave !
Romanian "apà" derives regularly from Latin "aqua", cf. "lingua" = "limbà"; on the contrary, the Baltic and Iranian words don't come from IE *akwa but rather from *apni = "swift stream", cf. "Penj-ab" = Five rivers".
Olivier
Hey, Romanian "foc" is like the French word for, otter. (I know, I know, they're not cognates.)
Hey, Romanian "foc" is like the French word for, otter. (I know, I know, they're not cognates.)
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