ROMANCE AND GERMANIC
WORDS IN ENGLISH
by Don L. F. Nilsen
and Alleen Pace Nilsen
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SPAIN, FRANCE, ITALY
AND PORTUGAL (Parra Guinaldo
4)
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SYSTEMATIC DIFFERENCES
• Cognates in two different languages or two different
language families (like Romance Languages vs.
Germanic Languages) sometimes don’t sound the
same, but a linguist knows how to look for
systematic differences.
• English <fl> for example usually shows up in Italian
as <fi> as in “flask,” “Florence,” and “flower,” which
are cognate with English “fiasco,” “Firenze,” and
“fiore.”
• English <pl> shows up in Italian as <pi> as in
“plane,” “place,” and “plus,” which are cognate with
17 “piu.”
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Italian “piano,” “piaza” and
ANOTHER SYSTEMATIC
DIFFERENCE
• Latin /f/ => Spanish <h> (silent)
•
•
•
•
•
Latin “fornu” (furnace) => Spanish “horno”
Latin “ficu” (fig) => Spanish “higo”
Latin “filiu (son) => Spanish “hijo”
Latin “farina” (flour) => Spanish “harina”
Latin “facere” (to make) => Spanish “hacer”
• (Parra Guinaldo 7 from Penny)
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GRIMM’S LAW
• /bh/, /dh/, /gh/ => /b/, /d/, /g/
• /b/, /d/, /g/ => /p/, /t/, /k/
• /p/, /t/, /k/ => /f/, /Θ/, /h/
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ROMANCE /b/ => GERMANIC /p/
• BOURSE (FRENCH STOCK
EXCHANGE):
• Bursa, Bursar, Burse (comunion), Bursitis
• PURSE (ENGLISH):
• The Purse (in gambling), To control the
purse stings, To make a silk purse out of a
sow’s ear, To purse one’s lips, Woman’s
purse
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ROMANCE /d/ => GERMANIC /t/
• DENS (LATIN)/DENT (FRENCH):
• Dandelion, Dent corn, Dented fender, Dentist, Dentures,
Hanging Indentation, Mastadon, Orthodontist, Rodent
• TOOTH/TEETH (ENGLISH):
• Armed to the teeth, An Eye for an Eye—a Tooth for a
Tooth, Long in the tooth, Sweet tooth, Teeth of a comb,
Teeth of a gear, Teeth of a rake, Teeth on a saw, To cut
your teeth on something, To escape by the skin of one’s
teeth, To fight tooth and nail, To give your eye teeth, To
go over something with a fine-tooth comb, to grit your
teeth, to pass a bill with teeth in it, to get someone’s
teeth on edge
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ROMANCE /k/ => GERMANIC /h/
• CORDIS (LATIN)/COEUR (FRENCH):
• Cardiac arrest, cardiologist, Cordial, Courage, Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho, To encourage, to record (learn by heart)
• HEART (ENGLISH):
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder, Artichoke hearts,
Bleeding heart liberal, Eat your heart out, Faint hearted, Halfhearted attempt, Heart attaclk, Heart in the right place, Heart of
a city, Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad), Heart of the matter,
Heart throb, Heartache, Heartburn (Nora Ephron), Heartened,
Heartfelt, Hearts (in cards), Hearty, Home is where the heart is,
Purple Heart, Sweetheart, To know something by heart, To lose
heart, To touch someone’s heart, To wear your heart on your
sleeve
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ROMANCE /k/ => GERMANIC
/h/
CORNU (LATIN):
•
• Capricorn, Corner, Coronet (musical instrument,
Cornucopia (horn of plenty), Four corners of the
earth, To be cornered, To corner the market, To
cut corners, To turn the corner (in an illness)
• HORN (ENGLISH):
• Bullhorn, Cape Horn, Charlotte Hornets
(basketball team), The Green Hornet (Comic
book hero), Greenhorn, Horn book, Horn-billed
bird, Horn of a car, Horn rimmed glasses,
Horned owl, Horny (sexual), Horny toad, Ink
horn terms (from Latin 17or Greek), On the horn 9
(telephone), on the horns of a dilemma, To blow
ROMANCE /p/ => GERMANIC /f/
• PED (LATIN):
• Expedition, Impediment, Pawn (footsoldier), pedals,
peddler, pedestal, pedestrian, pedicab, pedicure,
pedigree (French “pie de gris”-crane), Piedmont
(foothills), To expedite, To impede
• FOOT (ENGLISH):
• film footage, Foot of a stage, Foot soldier, Foothills,
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Footlights, Footloose and fancy
free, Footnotes, Political10
ROMANCE /p/ => GERMANIC /f/
• PYROS (GREEK):
• Funeral pyre, Pyracantha, Pyrex,
Pyromaniac, Pyrosis (heartburn),
Pyrotechnics
• FIRE:
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• Fiery, Firebrand, Firebug,
Firefighter,
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ROMANCE /kw/ => GERMANIC /f/
• QUATTUOR/QUARTUS (LATIN):
• French Quarter, Headquarters, Latin Quarter,
Living quarters, Quad, Quadrangle,
Quadriplegic, Quadruplets, Quarantine, Quart,
Quarter horse, Quadruped, Quadruple,
Quarterly
• FOUR/FOURTH (ENGLISH):
• Four Corners area, Four corners of the earth,
Four eyes, Fourth place, Four-wheel drive, 4 x 4,
Four on the floor, Four-poster bed, Four-banger
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ASTRUM, STELLA & STAR
• ASTRUM (LATIN):
• Asterisk, Asters (flowers), Astral, Astrology, Astronaut,
Astrodome (Dallas), Astrobiology, Astronomy
• STELLA (LATIN):
• Stella (girl’s name), Stellar (great)
• STAR (ENGLISH):
• Starfish, Starflower, Stargazing, Starlet, Seeing stars,
Starstruck
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CIRCULUS & CYCLE
• CIRCULUS (LATIN):
• Circular, Circumference, Circumferential, Cirque,
Circumlocution, Circumnavigation,
Circumstantial, Circus, Running around in
circles, Three-ring circus
• CYCLE (ENGLISH):
• Bicycle, Cyclone, Cyclical, Motorcycle, To
recycle, Tricycle, Unicycle
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!CORONA & CROWN
• CORONA (LATIN)/CORONA (SPANISH):
• Coronado, Corona Borealis, Corona cigars,
Corona del sol, Corona virus, Coronary arteries,
Coronary thrombosis, Coronation, Coroner,
Coronet braids
• CROWN (ENGLISH):
• Crown (on teeth), Crown/Kroner (money), Crown
caps (on sealed bottles), Crowning
achievement, To crown someone
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!!MANUS & HAND
• MANUS (LATIN):
• Emancipation Proclamation, Manacles,
Manager, Manicurist, Manual, Manufacture,
Manuscript
• HAND (ENGLISH):
• Handbook, Handcuffs, Handheld (not on
screen), Handicrafts, Handmade, Hand Maiden,
Handwork
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!!!SOL & SUN
• SOL (LATIN):
• Parasol, Solar energy, Solarium, Summer
solstice, Winter solstice
• SUN (ENGLISH):
• Ice cream sundaes, Sunbeam, Sunburst design,
Sundance Film Festival, Sunday, Sunflowers,
Sunkist Oranges, Sunbelt states, Sunset,
Sunshine, Snrise, Sunshine, Wyoming, Sun
Valley, Idaho, Valley of the Sun, Arizona
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• Reference:
• Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and
Nina Hyams. In Introduction to Language,
7th Edition. Boston, MA: Thomson/Heinle,
2003.
• Parra Guinaldo, Victor. The Development
of the Latin Initial F- in Old Spanish.
PowerPoint Presentation. Tempe, AZ:
A.S.U., April, 2006.
• Penny, R. A History of the Spanish
Language, 2nd Edition. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press,
2002.
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