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Leggi fonetiche · Legge 7 · Consonanti

Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)

F- (before a vowel)

Per ora le spiegazioni sono in inglese; gli esempi sono in tutte le lingue.

Spagnolo

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

Francese

f- kept

Italiano

f- kept

Portoghese

f- kept

Rumeno

f- kept

Catalano

f- kept

Cosa è successo

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.

Esempi

LatinoItalianoSpagnoloFrancesePortogheseRumenoCatalanoParente inglese
FĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)‘son’figliohijofilsfilhofiufillfilial
FACERE‘to do, make’farehacerfairefazerfacefer
FARĪNAM‘flour’farinaharinafarinefarinhafăinăfarina
FOLIAM‘leaf (ro foaie 'sheet')’fogliahojafeuillefolhafoaiefullafoliage
FORMĪCAM‘ant’formicahormigafourmiformigafurnicăformiga
FĪLUM‘thread’filohilofilfiofirfilfilament
FOCUM‘fire (f kept before ue)’fuocofuegofeufogofocfocfocus
FRONTEM‘forehead (f kept before r)’frontefrentefrontfrontefruntefrontfront

Chiave di decodifica

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.

Eccezioni

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).

Guardala in azione: FĪLIUM

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