Leyes fonéticas · Ley 7 · Consonantes

Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)

F- (before a vowel)

Por ahora, las explicaciones de esta sección están en inglés; los ejemplos están en todas las lenguas.

Español

h- (silent); f- kept before ue and r

Francés

f- kept

Italiano

f- kept

Portugués

f- kept

Rumano

f- kept

Catalán

f- kept

Qué ocurrió

Starting in northern Castile, the f at the start of a word weakened to a breathy [h], probably as the lips relaxed and only the friction of the breath remained; whether Basque contact played a part is debated. Writers began spelling h in the 15th century, and the [h] itself fell silent in standard Spanish during the 16th. Before the glide of ue and before r, the lips held on and f survived. Spanish is alone here: Portuguese, Catalan and Romanian keep f- as firmly as French and Italian.

Ejemplos

Latín	Italiano	Español	Francés	Portugués	Rumano	Catalán	Pariente en inglés
FĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)‘son’	figlio	hijo	fils	filho	fiu	fill	filial
FACERE‘to do, make’	fare	hacer	faire	fazer	face	fer
FARĪNAM‘flour’	farina	harina	farine	farinha	făină	farina
FOLIAM‘leaf (ro foaie 'sheet')’	foglia	hoja	feuille	folha	foaie	fulla	foliage
FORMĪCAM‘ant’	formica	hormiga	fourmi	formiga	furnică	formiga
FĪLUM‘thread’	filo	hilo	fil	fio	fir	fil	filament
FOCUM‘fire (f kept before ue)’	fuoco	fuego	feu	fogo	foc	foc	focus
FRONTEM‘forehead (f kept before r)’	fronte	frente	front	fronte	frunte	front	front

Descodificador

Spanish h- at the start of a word? Swap in f- for every other sister: hacer → faire, fare, fazer, fer; harina → farine, farina, farinha. And Spanish fu-, fr- simply match the sisters.

Excepciones

Learned words keep f, giving doublets: hierro/férreo, hablar/fábula, hoja/folio. Before ie the outcome varies (fiesta but hierro), and fe (FIDEM) kept its f. Andalusian and some Latin American speech still aspirates the h in a few words (cante jondo, from hondo < FUNDUM).

Míralo en acción: FĪLIUM

Qué ocurrió

Ejemplos

Descodificador

Excepciones

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