vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Great. So, the old sense 'to watch over' or 'to look at' was transfered to French 'regarder' and Catalan 'esguardar'. 020
Reposted by @vriullop.bsky.socialYoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Sometimes, borrowing a word can save it from extinction. French ‘orgueil’ (pride) was borrowed from Germanic *uʀgōlī, which went extinct in all Germanic languages. *Haifstiz (vehemence) didn’t survive in West Germanic, but French gave us its borrowing ‘haste’. Zoom in to learn all about them: 1410828
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 23/08/2026It is documented 'zábulo' in Catalan-Aragonese Proto-Romance (10th c.), from Popular Latin 'zabulus'. The inherited form would have been '*jable'. 110
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 18/08/2026That is the origin of Gerona/Girona, from Latin 'urbs Gerunda' from 'gerere', the city to be ruled in contrast to the indigenous ones. 120
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Eh? No hi tinc res a veure. Els crèdits per @vpamies.bsky.social 110
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 22/06/2026It is attested by Colombus in his first voyage and it was in use until the 17th century. 020
Reposted by @vriullop.bsky.socialYoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 21/06/2026French ‘est’ and ‘ouest’ look a lot like ‘east’ and ‘west’. That’s because they were borrowed from Old English, along with other nautical terms, which points to naval contacts. French passed on the words for the wind directions to the other Romance languages. My new graphic tells you more: 1/ 510425
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 21/06/2026Fun fact, Portuguese and Old Spanish 'leste' was borrowed including the article from 'l'est'. 140
Reposted by @vriullop.bsky.socialYoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 19/06/2026French ‘nord’ and ‘sud’ look a lot like ‘north’ and ‘south’. That’s because Old French borrowed them from Old English ‘norþ’ and ‘sūþ’ – along with ‘est’ and ‘ouest’, from ‘ēast’ and ‘west’. My graphic tells you all about ‘north’, ‘south’ and their fascinating history. Next time: east and west. 1110526
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 19/06/2026For E&W you've mentioned popular names 'levante/poniente', also in other Romances. For N, I only know Catalan and Italian 'tramontana', north wind beyond the mountains, the Pyrenees or the Alps. In fact, 'north' was the first borrowing substituting local references, later followed by other points. 120
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 19/06/2026In Romance languages, the south was named generally with the same original sense that the Germanic term: Spanish 'mediodía', French 'midi', Catalan 'migdia'. But literally they don't make sense in the Southern Hemisphere, and the Germanic borrowing was not associated anymore with the Sun. 110
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 28/05/2026Catalan 'vall' cognate of 'wall' is weird. Feminine 'vall' comes from 'vallis', and masculine 'vall' comes from 'vallum', but changed its meaning to the moat near a wall, perhaps by analogy. 110
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 12/02/2026Spanish 'plácidamente' seems like an out of place accent, but it's actually pronounced as two separate words. This is notable in Catalan: 'internament' can be read as an adverb /inˈtɛrnə'men/ or a noun /intərnə'men/ (internally, internment). 130
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 09/01/2026Sure, another ŏ+yod: hoide > *oie > hui > vui > avui (today), as archaic French 'hui'. The evolution is incertain, probably /ɔj/ > /uj/ > /wuj/ > /vuj/. 110
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 08/01/2026Same explanation in Catalan 'huit', currently used in Valencian instead of common 'vuit' with epenthesis. Note that Old French and Old Catalan 'vit', from Latin 'vectis', meant 'penis'. 120
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 26/12/2025Take it easy, he provides a live exemple of being 'roí'. It is in common use in Valencian. As dizzle, roina, roinar, roinada are used in parts of Central Catalan, not Barcelona. 130
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 26/12/2025'Lentícula' is used in botany meaning 'lenticel'. A contact lens is like a lentil, but hardly used although it is the only sense in major dictionaries. 010
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 25/12/2025Doublet and antonym originated by sarcastic use. A remedy that doesn't work ends up being the evil culprit. 141
Reposted by @vriullop.bsky.socialYoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 25/12/2025The Catalan word ‘metzina’ means “poison”. It stems from the same Latin word as ‘medicina’, meaning “medicine”. ‘Metzina’ was inherited from spoken Latin, while ‘medicina’ is a late borrowing from written Latin. Pairs like this are called doublets. Episode 7 of my series: Catalan. Next: Galician. 816159
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 14/12/2025Catalan 'butxaca' (pocket) is a Basco-Romance reanalysis. Old Occitan 'bolja' (leather bag) entered in Old Vasconic with plural -ak *burjak then added singulative -a, 'burjaca'. The same Celtic root with diminutive ended in English 'budget'. 140
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 22/10/2025It's a fun fact that 'écouter', 'ausculter' and its cognates mean 'I hear with the ear'. It's like the Spanish idiom 'escúchame con la oreja' (pay attention to me) or the Catalan one 'parar l'orella' (to keep an ear to the ground). 020
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 06/09/2025'Treballar' is the most common form in Catalan and Aragonese. But Catalan 'traballar' is only found in frontier areas with Aragon. 120
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 06/09/2025Potser és al revés, pels normands viatjar seria la seva manera de laborar. 100
Reposted by @vriullop.bsky.socialYoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 30/07/2025If you ever find yourself wondering why half of the internet posts and comments written by French native speakers contain more spelling mistakes than words, listen and see why in 20 seconds: 119319
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 28/07/2025Res/re from Latin 'rēs/rem' (thing) were used as two-case forms soon merged. Currently 're' is the colloquial pronunciation of writed 'res'. 020
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 28/07/2025Right, but the expected form was 'tempe' rarely found in Old Catalan. 010
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 27/07/2025'Homen' is an Old Catalan form. The plural 'hòmens' is still used colloquially. 070
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 27/07/2025As Catalan 'hom' and 'home'. The h is not missed because 'om' is from 'ulmus' (elm). It is not missed either in 'ohm', but this is another story. 130
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 09/07/2025I've found the cognates of Catalan 'buc' (nautical hull) and Spanish 'buque' (vessel). 020
Reposted by @vriullop.bsky.socialYoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 25/06/2025There's another interesting Romance word for "bad", which didn't fit in the graphic anymore: Catalan 'dolent'. It comes from Latin 'dolentem' (nominative case 'dolēns'), meaning "hurting". It's now the main word for "bad", but it can also still mean "hurting". The Latin verb it was derived ... 1/ 25511
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 26/06/2025I was trying to understand Old Catalan "tornar-vos-n'ets" and then I remembered your post: it's future 'tornarets'. I wasn't expecting the pronouns in the middle. This shows that they were aware of how it was built. It means "you'll return thence yourself", modern 'us en tornareu'. 110
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 08/06/2025Fascinating. Catalan 'ets', equivalent to Spanish 'eres', is explained in another way: from Latin plural 'estis' used in formal register of 'vós'. 120
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 25/05/2025Imagina el Fabra jugant al Tennis Club Badalona. Va acabar posant 'micaco' i 'tennis'. 000
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 18/05/2025In Llull it is systematic, but writed texts use to be more cultists. In popular language people prefered the form from the accusative as usual, and 'Déus' was perceived as plural. 010
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 18/05/2025Ecclesiastical pressure. Sp. 'Dios' and Port. 'Deus' from nominative 'Deus' instead from expected 'Deum', seem plurals. OldCat. with both 'Déus/Déu' used with two-case declension as Popular Latin is weird and unique: 'Déu' only after a preposition until the 14th c., then 'Déus' disappeared. 110
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 20/04/2025Mysteriously, 'suny' is not attested, but there is a late expression 'son-sunyer', "dreamy sleep". Sunyer is also a Germanic surname and it has ended up with a personification: "here comes Sunyer" means "I fall asleep". 120
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 11/04/2025Confrontar amb el navaho "país de la gent d'ulls estrets" en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bin%C3%...en.m.wiktionary.orgBinááʼádaałtsʼózí dineʼé bikéyah - Wiktionary, the free dictionary 000
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 11/04/2025So a minister is a minor master, wonderful. 010
Reposted by @vriullop.bsky.socialYoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 31/03/2025'Car', 'to change', 'piece' - English borrowed these words from French, which inherited them from Latin. But they weren't native Latin words. Latin got them from Gaulish, an extinct Celtic language. Gaulish was a great-aunt of Welsh, Irish and Breton. Six common Romance words of Gaulish origin: 610129
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 01/04/2025Interesting, quite similar in Catalan, 'bragues' is restricted to dialectal use, and 'bragueta' is general. BTW, I supose that the city of Braga in unrelated, although of Celtic origin. 020
Reposted by @vriullop.bsky.socialJosep M. Ganyet 🦋 @ganyet.bsky.social · 31/03/2025La Societat Catalana de Filosofia ha creat un web que recull obres filosòfiques en llengua catalana disponibles gratuïtament en format digital (originals i traduccions, sempre descatalogades i en obert). Lllibres descatalogats, textos difícils de trobar i coses xules. loliba.catloliba.catL'ÒlibaArxiu de textos de filosofia en català. 211661
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 30/03/2025In Catalan Carlemany, but Alexandre Magne. 'Many' is not used anymore, but it remains in transparent toponyms Portmany (big port), Montmany (big mount), Vallmanya (big valley). 150
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 30/03/2025The form Xarles is also attested, probably Carles is a partial re-Latinization. 010
vriullop.bsky.social @vriullop.bsky.social · 29/03/2025I don't think Catalan 'Carles' was inherited from Latin, but borrowed from Old French. The -es ending is rare, it was not a common name until modern times, and in early Old Catalan it was used for naming Frankish-French noblemen. 110
