Famílias latinas

FACERE is the busiest verb in Latin, and its participle FACTUM split cleanly in two: worn down in speech to hecho, fait, fatto, and borrowed back intact by scholars as fact, factual, faction. Spanish adds a twist of its own, turning Latin F- into a silent h- (Old Spanish fazer, fecho). Portuguese feito and Catalan fet vocalize the cluster as French does, while Romanian, true to the Eastern branch, turns -CT- into -pt-: fapt.

• FACERE: All inherited. Italian fare is a shortened spoken form, levelled on dare and stare. Portuguese fazer, Romanian face and Catalan fer are inherited too.
• FACTUM: hecho, fait, fatto are inherited (CT → ch, it, tt); English fact is a learned borrowing that kept the Latin cluster. Portuguese feito and Catalan fet have CT → it like French; Romanian fapt shows the Eastern -CT- → -pt-.
• PERFECTUM: French parfait is inherited; Spanish perfecto keeps the -ct- an inherited word would have turned into -ch- (compare hecho), so it is learned. English re-Latinized Old French parfit. Portuguese perfeito has the inherited shape (compare feito); Romanian perfect and Catalan perfecte keep the learned cluster.
• FACTIŌNEM: The popular branch: Old French façon 'way of making, manner', which English took as fashion. Portuguese feição 'feature, manner' is the inherited cousin.
• FACTIŌNEM: The same Latin word borrowed back for politics — a doublet with façon/fashion.
• FACTŪRAM: Now chiefly 'invoice' (the made-out bill). Spanish also kept an inherited hechura 'making, cut of a garment'.

FRĪGIDUM was squeezed in speech to *FRIGDU, and French and Italian point to a short i (probably under the influence of RIGIDUS 'stiff'), giving froid and freddo; Spanish lost the -g- and the -d- to give frío. Centuries later the full Latin word came back as frígido, frigide, frigido, frigid — 'sexually cold' or 'frozen' in register. Portuguese frio and Catalan fred are inherited too (Catalan, like French and Italian, points to the short i); Romanian says rece, from RECENTEM 'fresh'.

• FRĪGIDUM: Inherited from spoken *FRIGDU; the everyday word in all three. Romanian keeps frig, from the noun FRĪGUS, for 'the cold' (e frig 'it is cold').
• FRĪGIDUM: Learned doublet of frío/froid/freddo, kept for technical and clinical senses.
• REFRĪGERĀRE: Learned everywhere; the everyday fridge is frigorífico / frigo / frigorifero, all modern learned coinages. Brazil says geladeira, Romania frigider and Catalonia nevera for the fridge.
• FRĪGIDUM (via resfriar): A derivative of inherited frío/frio shared by Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese: un resfriado, um resfriado is 'a cold'.

RATIŌNEM meant 'a reckoning, an account' and then 'reason'. Spoken Latin wore it down to razón, raison, ragione (and English reason, through French); scholars later borrowed it back with its bookkeeping sense intact as ración, ration, razione — an 'allotted share'. Portuguese razão and Catalan raó (which drops the final n) are inherited too; Romanian lost the word and borrowed rațiune and rație from the learned side.

• RATIŌNEM: Inherited (English via Old French). Italian ragione, like stagione, shows a voiced outcome of -TI- whose source — native Tuscan or early Gallo-Romance influence — is debated. Romanian has no inherited form; its rațiune 'reason' is learned.
• RATIŌNEM: Learned doublet of razón/raison/ragione. Portuguese ração 'ration; animal feed' is the semi-learned doublet of razão; Romanian rație is a modern loan.
• RATIŌNĀLEM: Learned in all four.
• RATIŌNĀBILEM: Built on the inherited stem (razón-, raison-, ragion-), not the learned one. Portuguese razoável and Catalan raonable likewise; Romanian rezonabil was borrowed from French raisonnable.

DĪRĒCTUM 'set straight' became the everyday Romance word for 'straight', 'right' and 'law' (spoken *DERECTU → derecho, droit, diritto). The learned doublet directo, direct, diretto kept the sense 'without detour'. French also built a verb on it that English borrowed as dress and address. Romanian drept 'straight; right; law' shows the Eastern -CT- → -pt-.

• DĪRĒCTUM: Inherited. Italian also has the shorter dritto 'straight'. Portuguese direito and Catalan dret are inherited; Romanian drept has -CT- → -pt-.
• DĪRĒCTUM: Learned doublet. Italian diretto happens to look inherited because -ct- → -tt- either way.
• DĪRĒCTIŌNEM: Learned. Spanish dirección also means 'postal address'; French and Italian do not (adresse, indirizzo). 'Address' is endereço (pt), adresă (ro), adreça (ca).
• DĪRIGERE: Learned in all three. Brazilian dirigir also means 'to drive'; Romanian dirija came through French diriger.
• *DĪRĒCTIĀRE: A spoken-Latin verb, inherited. Spanish aderezar 'to season, adorn' is from *ADDĪRĒCTIĀRE, like French adresser (English address). Portuguese endereçar 'to address' (endereço 'address') and Catalan adreçar 'to straighten; to address' (adreça 'address') belong here too.

LĒGĀLEM 'of the law' is a textbook doublet: in speech it lost its g and drifted from 'lawful' to 'faithful' (leal, loyal); in writing it stayed legal. English borrowed both from French, centuries apart, and so has loyal and legal side by side. Portuguese leal and Catalan lleial took the popular road too; Romanian, which inherited lege 'law', borrowed loial and legal from French.

• LĒGEM: Inherited. English law is Norse, not Latin. Romanian lege and Catalan llei (with its initial L- → ll-) are inherited too.
• LĒGĀLEM: Spanish leal and French loyal are inherited; Italian leale probably came in from Old French or Occitan; English loyal from French. Romanian loial is a modern loan from French.
• LĒGĀLEM: The learned doublet, borrowed back with its original meaning. In Brazil legal is also everyday slang for 'nice, cool'.
• LĒGITIMUM: Learned.
• PRĪVILĒGIUM: Learned: PRĪVUS 'single' + LĒX.

PENSĀRE 'to weigh' already lost its n in spoken Latin (NS → S, as in MĒNSA → mesa), giving the inherited pesar, peser, pesare 'to weigh'. The Church and the schools kept the full form for 'weighing things in the mind', and pensar, penser, pensare 'to think' are that learned branch. French even has a third doublet: panser 'to dress (a wound)', originally just a spelling of penser 'to take care of'. Portuguese and Catalan keep both doublets (pesar beside pensar). Romanian kept only the worn-down one, as păsa 'to matter' (nu-mi pasă 'I don't care'), and thinks with gândi, a Hungarian loan.

• PENSĀRE: Inherited: the NS → S of spoken Latin. Romanian păsa survives only as 'to matter, to care'; Romanians weigh with cântări.
• PENSĀRE: Learned or semi-learned: the n was kept from written Latin. Romanian thinks with gândi, from Hungarian.
• PENSUM: Inherited. The d in French poids is a medieval spelling made on a mistaken link with PONDUS 'weight'; English poise is from Old French pois.
• PENSIŌNEM: Learned; 'boarding house' grew from 'payment for board'.
• COMPENSĀRE: Learned.

Classical CAPUT survived in Spanish, French and Italian only as the 'head' of things — cabo 'end, cape', chef 'chief', capo 'boss' — while the body part itself got new words (Spanish and Portuguese cabeza, cabeça from *CAPITIA; French tête and Italian testa from TESTA 'pot'). Romanian and Catalan never let go: cap is still the head on your shoulders. CAPITĀLE 'main property' gave the most surprising doublet: popular caudal and cheptel, English cattle and chattel, beside learned capital.

• CAPUT: Inherited, all meaning 'head of' or 'end'. English chief came from Old French chief, chef much later; Spanish jefe is a borrowing from French. Romanian and Catalan cap still mean the head itself.
• *CAPITIA: Spanish and Portuguese only. French tête and Italian testa come instead from TESTA 'earthenware pot, shell' (Romanian keeps it as țeastă 'skull'); Romanian and Catalan say cap.
• CAPITĀLE: The popular branch: Spanish caudal 'flow; wealth', French cheptel 'livestock', English cattle (via Norman French) and chattel (via Parisian French). Portuguese cabedal 'stock, means' and Catalan cabal 'flow; wealth' belong to the same popular branch.
• CAPITĀLEM: The learned doublet: capital city, capital letter, capital punishment, capital money. Romanian splits it: capitală (city), capital (money).
• CAPITULUM: French chapitre (Old French chapitle) is popular, and English chapter came from it; Spanish capítulo is learned, beside inherited cabildo 'chapter of canons, town council'. Portuguese capítulo, Romanian capitol and Catalan capítol are learned; Portuguese cabido 'chapter of canons' is the popular one.

LĪBERUM 'free' was so tied to law and the Church that in Spanish, French and Italian the adjective survives only in learned or semi-learned shapes (libre, libre, libero); Portuguese livre and Catalan lliure show more wear, and Romanian liber was taken from Latin. The verb LĪBERĀRE did run the popular course, turning into Spanish librar, Portuguese livrar, Catalan lliurar and French livrer 'to deliver' — the learned liberar, libérer is its doublet. Not to be confused with LIBRUM 'book' (short i, originally 'inner bark').

• LĪBERUM: Learned or semi-learned in Spanish, French and Italian: no truly worn-down form survives there. Portuguese livre (B → v) and Catalan lliure (B → u) look more popular; Romanian liber is a borrowing from Latin.
• LĪBERTĀTEM: Learned.
• LĪBERĀRE: The popular branch: Spanish librar 'to free, spare', French livrer 'to deliver'. English deliver is from Old French delivrer (Late Latin DĒLĪBERĀRE). Portuguese livrar 'to free, rid' (livrar-se de) and Catalan lliurar 'to hand over, deliver' are popular too.
• LĪBERĀRE: The learned doublet of librar/livrer. Romanian elibera adds a prefix; Catalan says alliberar.
• LĪBERĀLEM: Learned.

MANUS was a feminine noun with an odd ending, and the sisters kept the gender against the look of the word: la mano in Spanish and Italian, la main in French. The hand also reached into 'holding' (maintain), 'sleeves' (manga) and 'way of doing' (manner). Portuguese a mão, Romanian mâna and Catalan la mà are feminine too.

• MANUM: Inherited; feminine everywhere despite Spanish and Italian -o (Italian plural le mani). Portuguese mão nasalized the vowel as it lost the n, Catalan mà simply dropped it, and Romanian mână kept the n and raised the vowel before it.
• MANUĀLEM: Learned.
• MANICAM: Inherited. French la Manche, the English Channel, is 'the sleeve'; le manche (masc.) 'handle' is from MANICUM. Romanian mânecă and Catalan màniga are inherited too.
• MANŪ TENĒRE: A spoken-Latin compound, inherited; English via French. Romanian menține was modelled on French maintenir.
• *MANUĀRIA: French manière is inherited; Spanish manera and Italian maniera most likely entered from Gallo-Romance (Occitan or French). Portuguese maneira and Catalan manera are usually traced the same way; Romanian manieră is a modern French loan.

COR was a short neuter noun; French and Italian kept it (cœur, cuore), while Spanish replaced it with an augmentative *CORĀTIŌNE → corazón. The oblique stem CORD- lives on in learned words, and the Romans located memory in the heart: RECORDĀRĪ is 'to bring back to heart'. Catalan kept cor; Portuguese shares coração with Spanish; Romanian calls the heart inimă, from ANIMA 'breath, soul'.

• COR: Inherited (Old Spanish had cuer too, now lost). Catalan cor is inherited too; Romanian says inimă (ANIMA).
• *CORĀTIŌNEM: Spanish and Portuguese (coração): a spoken-Latin augmentative.
• CORDIĀLEM (Medieval Latin): Learned.
• RECORDĀRĪ: French says se souvenir / se rappeler instead; English record is from Old French recorder 'to recite, repeat'. Brazilians mostly say lembrar (from MEMORĀRE), Romanians aminti.
• CONCORDIAM: Learned.
• COR + -ĀTICUM (Old French formation): Formed in Old French (corage); Spanish coraje (now chiefly 'anger') and Italian coraggio were borrowed from Gallo-Romance. Portuguese coragem and Catalan coratge also came from Gallo-Romance; Romanian curaj is a modern French loan.

NOCTEM shows the three outcomes of Latin -CT- in one word: Spanish ch (noche), French it (nuit), Italian tt (notte). The learned words keep -ct- intact. English night is a Germanic distant cognate from the same Indo-European root, not a borrowing. Add the newer sisters and there is a fourth: Portuguese noite and Catalan nit side with French, while Romanian noapte has the Eastern -pt-.

• NOCTEM: Inherited. Romanian noapte also breaks the o into oa.
• NOCTURNUM: Learned (English nocturnal from Late Latin NOCTURNĀLIS).
• MEDIAM NOCTEM: Each language built its own compound from inherited parts (French mi- from MEDIUM). Romanian says 'the core of the night', miez being MEDIUM.
• AEQUINOCTIUM: Learned.

AQUAM wore down furthest in French: Old French ewe, eaue, then eau, a single vowel. Spanish agua voiced the consonant, Italian acqua doubled it. The learned words go back to the spelling — and French shows a hidden doublet, the humble évier 'kitchen sink' beside learned aquarium. Romanian apă shows the Eastern QU → p, Catalan aigua a glide of its own.

• AQUAM: Inherited. Spanish says el agua (stressed a-) though the noun is feminine. Romanian apă has QU → p, as in patru 'four' (QUATTUOR).
• AQUĀTICUM: Learned.
• AQUAE DUCTUM: Learned.
• AQUĀRIUM: The popular branch: French évier 'kitchen sink' is AQUĀRIUM worn down.
• AQUĀRIUM: The learned doublet of évier.

VIDĒRE lost its middle in Spanish (Old Spanish veer → ver) and French (voir) but kept it in Italian vedere. The sisters built new spoken participles — *VĪSTA behind vista, *VIDŪTA behind French vue — while classical VĪSUM fed the learned words. Catalan veure turned the d into u; Romanian vedea kept it, like Italian.

• VIDĒRE: Inherited. Portuguese ver, Romanian vedea and Catalan veure are inherited too.
• *VĪSTAM: Spanish and Italian vista are inherited; French vue continues a different spoken participle, *VIDŪTA. English vista is from Italian. Portuguese and Catalan vista too.
• VĪSIŌNEM: Learned.
• VĪSITĀRE: Semi-learned.
• PROVIDĒRE: Romance forms inherited; English provide is learned, while purvey came through French.
• ĒVIDENTEM: Learned.

DĪCERE and its participle DICTUM gave the everyday 'say' and 'said' in all three sisters. The learned branch kept -CT- (dictar, dicter, dictionary), and Italian shows the Latin -CT- → -tt- rule in both its inherited detto and its inherited-looking dettare. Romanian zice turns D before i into z, as it regularly does (DEUM → zeu 'god').

• DĪCERE: Inherited. Portuguese dizer, Romanian zice and Catalan dir too.
• DICTUM: Inherited. English ditto is from Tuscan ditto, a variant of detto 'the said (item)'. Romanian zis is built differently.
• DICTĀRE: Spanish dictar and French dicter are learned; Italian dettare has the inherited shape (Old French also had an inherited ditier). Romanian dicta and Catalan dictar are learned.
• DICTIŌNĀRIUM (Medieval Latin): A medieval scholars' coinage; learned everywhere.
• BENEDĪCERE: Inherited in the sisters (Old French beneïr); English benediction is learned, from BENEDICTIŌNEM. Catalan beneir is inherited like Old French beneïr; Portuguese everyday 'to bless' is abençoar, built on bênção (BENEDICTIŌNEM).

PORTĀRE is the ordinary 'carry' of French (porter) and Italian (portare); Spanish prefers llevar (LEVĀRE 'to lift') and keeps portar for 'to bear' and portarse 'to behave'. Its prefixed forms travelled widely as learned words — and one of them, via Old French, became English sport. Romanian purta and Catalan portar are everyday 'carry' verbs; Portuguese, like Spanish, carries with levar.

• PORTĀRE: Everyday in French and Italian; in Spanish, llevar does the work. Romanian purta 'to carry, to wear' and Catalan portar are everyday too; Portuguese keeps portar-se 'to behave'.
• IMPORTĀRE: Learned. The sense 'to matter' (no importa, peu importe, non importa) grew from 'to bring with it, entail'.
• SUPPORTĀRE: In all three sisters a key everyday sense is 'to put up with, stand' — a trap for English speakers. Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan share the trap.
• TRANSPORTĀRE: Learned.
• DĒPORTĀRE: Spanish deporte 'sport' comes from Old Spanish deportarse 'to amuse oneself'; Italian diporto is 'leisure'; French déporter 'to deport' is learned. English sport is a cognate: clipped from disport, Old French desporter (with DIS- for DĒ-). Brazilian esporte, Romanian sport and Catalan esport took the English word back; European Portuguese prefers desporto.

Initial SC- grew a prop vowel in Spanish (escribir) and French (Old French escrire → écrire), which later dropped the s and left an accent behind. Italian kept the cluster: scrivere, scritto. In this family even the inherited forms look close to Latin, because -PT- simply became -t- or -tt-. Portuguese escrever and Catalan escriure took the prop vowel too; Romanian scrie, like Italian, kept the bare cluster.

• SCRĪBERE: Inherited. Portuguese escrever, Romanian scrie and Catalan escriure are inherited too.
• SCRĪPTUM: Inherited in the sisters; English script via Old French escript, re-Latinized. Romanian scris is built differently.
• SCRĪPTŪRAM: Inherited in the sisters; English scripture is learned. Romanian scriptură is learned, chiefly 'Scripture'.
• DĒSCRĪBERE: French décrire is inherited; Spanish describir is learned in shape.
• SCRĪBAM: Learned.
• MANŪSCRĪPTUM (Medieval Latin): Learned.

TEMPUS means both 'time' and 'weather' in all three sisters (tiempo, temps, tempo), and the stormy sense spread into its derivatives: Spanish and Italian temporal(e) is a thunderstorm. Spanish built its everyday 'early', temprano, on the same stem. Portuguese tempo and Catalan temps do the same double duty; Romanian timp is 'time', and 'weather' is vreme, a Slavic word that also means 'time'.

• TEMPUS: Inherited (neuter: nominative and accusative alike). English tempo is from Italian. Portuguese tempo, Romanian timp and Catalan temps are inherited too.
• TEMPORĀLEM: Learned. Spanish temporal and Italian temporale also mean 'storm'. Portuguese and Catalan temporal can be a storm too.
• TEMPORĀNUM (Late Latin): Inherited: Spanish temprano 'early'; Portuguese temporão survives for fruit, or a child, that comes early or out of season. French says tôt, Italian presto, Portuguese cedo.
• TEMPESTĀTEM: French tempête and Italian tempesta come from spoken *TEMPESTA; Spanish tempestad keeps the classical stem. Portuguese tempestade keeps the classical stem like Spanish; Catalan tempesta sides with French and Italian.
• CONTEMPORĀNEUM: Learned.

Latin had both OPUS 'a work' and OPERA 'effort, labour'; the sisters inherited the second: obra, œuvre, opera. Spanish shows the popular P → b (obrar, obrero) against the learned operar, operación, and Italian's sung opera is simply 'the work'. Portuguese and Catalan obra are inherited as well; Romanian borrowed operă from the learned side.

• OPERAM: Inherited. English opera is from Italian. Romanian operă (a work; an opera) is learned.
• OPERĀRIUM: Inherited. Portuguese everyday operário is learned, beside inherited obreiro; Romanian says muncitor.
• OPERĀRĪ: Learned; Spanish also keeps inherited obrar and French œuvrer 'to work (towards)'.
• OPERĀTIŌNEM: Learned.
• *MANUOPERA: French manœuvre is inherited; Italian manovra and English manoeuvre came from French. Romanian manevră is a modern loan.

PATREM and MĀTREM are near-perfect cognates in Spanish and Italian (padre, madre) and lose the middle in French (père, mère). Their derivatives make good doublets: Spanish padrón 'census roll' and Italian padrone 'owner' beside learned patrón/patrono, and — probably — Spanish madera 'wood' beside learned materia 'matter'. Portuguese pai, mãe and Catalan pare, mare wear the words down further; Romanian replaced both with nursery words, tată and mamă.

• PATREM (nom. PATER): Inherited. Portuguese pai (Old Portuguese padre) and Catalan pare too; Romanian tată is from Latin TATA 'daddy'.
• MĀTREM (nom. MĀTER): Inherited. Portuguese mãe and Catalan mare too; Romanian says mamă.
• PATERNUM: Learned (French and English from Medieval Latin PATERNĀLIS).
• MĀTERNUM: Learned (French and English from Medieval Latin MĀTERNĀLIS).
• PATRŌNUM: Italian padrone 'owner' is inherited (learned doublet: patrono); Spanish has inherited padrón 'register, roll' beside patrón and patrono. Portuguese has three: padrão 'standard, pattern' (popular, T → d), patrão 'boss' and patrono 'patron'. Romanian patron is from French.
• COMPATREM: Inherited; the godparent bond became 'buddy' (es) or 'accomplice' (fr). Romanian cumătru 'godfather; crony' is inherited too.
• MĀTERIAM: Spanish madera 'wood' is inherited, learned materia its doublet. MĀTERIA is usually derived from MĀTER (the tree's 'mother-stuff'), though this is not certain. Portuguese madeira 'wood' is inherited like madera; Romanian materie and Catalan matèria are learned.
• PATRIAM: Learned.

FIDEM wore down to fe, foi, fede (and through Anglo-French to English faith). French re-borrowed FIDĒLIS as fidèle, but its inherited Old French feauté survives in English fealty. The spoken verb *FĪDĀRE 'to trust' gave fiar, se fier, fidare — and French fiancer, 'to pledge one's trust'. Catalan fe and Portuguese fé are inherited too; Romanian built its 'faith' on another verb, credință (CRĒDERE).

• FIDEM: Inherited; English via Anglo-French.
• FIDĒLEM: Spanish fiel and Italian fedele are inherited; French fidèle is learned (Old French feeil). Portuguese fiel is inherited; Romanian fidel and Catalan fidel are learned.
• FIDĒLITĀTEM: Learned in Spanish, French and English; English fealty is the inherited Old French feauté.
• *FĪDĀRE: Inherited; French uses it reflexively: se fier à. Catalan fiar-se de 'to trust'; Portuguese fiar is now mostly 'to sell on credit' (trust is confiar).
• CŌNFĪDENTIAM: Learned; in the sisters mostly 'a secret confided' (Italian also 'familiarity'). Everyday 'trust' is the inherited-built confianza, confiance (it. fiducia). Everyday 'trust': confiança (pt, ca), încredere (ro).

CANERE 'to sing' was replaced in speech by its frequentative CANTĀRE, which survives everywhere. French palatalized CA- to cha- (chanter, chanson, enchanter), and English borrowed those French shapes; Spanish and Italian kept the hard c. Portuguese and Catalan kept the hard c too; Romanian cânta raised the a before n to â.

• CANTĀRE: Inherited; English via French. Portuguese cantar, Romanian cânta and Catalan cantar are inherited too.
• CANTIŌNEM: French chanson and Italian canzone are inherited; Spanish canción is semi-learned in shape. Portuguese canção and Catalan cançó are inherited; Romanian cântec comes from CANTICUM.
• CANTUM: Inherited. English canto (a section of a long poem) is from Italian.
• INCANTĀRE: Inherited; Spanish me encanta 'I love it' is a bewitchment worn smooth. Romanian încântat! 'delighted' is how Romanians say 'pleased to meet you'.
• ACCENTUM: Learned: AD + CANTUS, a Latin calque of Greek prosōidía.

LŪX survives in Spanish luz and Italian luce, but French lost it and took its 'light' from LŪMINĀRIA instead: lumière. Spanish turned LŪMEN into lumbre 'fire', and built alumbrar 'to light up' on it — a popular doublet of learned iluminar. Portuguese luz sides with Spanish and Italian; Catalan took its 'light' from LŪMEN (llum) and Romanian from the plural LŪMINA (lumină).

• LŪCEM: Inherited; French uses lumière. Portuguese luz too; Catalan and Romanian use LŪMEN words.
• LŪMEN (obl. LŪMINE): Inherited: Spanish lumbre 'fire, hearth fire', Italian lume 'lamp, light'. Portuguese lume 'fire'; Catalan llum 'light, lamp'. Romanian lume became 'world' — following Slavic světъ, which meant both 'light' and 'world' — while its 'light', lumină, continues the plural LŪMINA.
• LŪMINĀRIA: French lumière is inherited and is the everyday word; Spanish and Italian luminaria (festive lights) is learned. Brazilian luminária is a lamp.
• ILLŪMINĀRE: Learned; Spanish also has popular alumbrar, built on lumbre. Portuguese also has popular alumiar.
• LŪMINŌSUM: Learned. Romanian luminos and Catalan lluminós are built on the inherited lumină, llum.
• LŪCIDUM: Learned; Italian lucido also means 'shiny' and 'polish'.

CORPUS gave the everyday body word in all three sisters (cuerpo, corps, corpo); French spelling restored a silent p in Old French cors, and English kept both corpse and corps. Almost everything else in the family is learned and transparent: corporal, corporation, corpulent. Portuguese corpo and Catalan cos (which simplified the cluster) are inherited too; Romanian has corp beside the Slavic trup.

• CORPUS: Inherited. English corpse (Old French cors, re-Latinized) and corps (modern French) are a doublet of their own.
• CORPORĀLEM: Learned.
• CORPORĀTIŌNEM (Late Latin): Learned.
• CORPULENTUM: Learned.
• INCORPORĀRE: Learned.
• CORPUS (via Old French cors + -et): A French diminutive of inherited cors; the others borrowed it.

LEGERE first meant 'to gather, pick', then 'to pick out letters', to read. Both senses survive: leer, lire, leggere for reading, and COLLIGERE 'gather together' in coger, cueillir, cogliere. The lesson family shows a neat doublet: French leçon is inherited, Spanish lección and Italian lezione are learned. Portuguese ler and Catalan llegir read too; Romanian reads with the Slavic citi, but kept the 'gathering' compounds: culege 'to pick' and alege 'to choose'.

• LEGERE: Inherited. Portuguese ler and Catalan llegir are inherited; Romanian says citi.
• LĒCTIŌNEM: French leçon is inherited (English lesson from it); Spanish lección and Italian lezione are learned. Portuguese lição and Catalan lliçó side with French leçon; Romanian lecție is learned.
• LĒCTŪRAM (Medieval Latin): In the sisters it means 'reading'; only English narrowed it to 'a talk'. Portuguese leitura has the popular CT → it; Romanian lectură is learned.
• LĒCTŌREM: Learned in all three; Italian lettore just adapts -ct- to -tt-, as Italian does even in learned words. Portuguese leitor has the popular shape.
• COLLIGERE: Inherited: Spanish coger 'take, catch', French cueillir 'pick (flowers)', Italian cogliere 'pick, seize'. English cull is from Old French; collect is learned, from COLLĒCTUM. Portuguese colher, Romanian culege and Catalan collir 'to pick, gather' are inherited too.
• ĒLIGERE: French élire is inherited; Spanish elegir is learned in shape; English elect is from the participle ĒLĒCTUM. Romanian alege 'to choose' is inherited.

CAUSA 'reason, lawsuit' became the ordinary Romance word for 'thing': cosa, chose, cosa — a 'matter' in the legal sense, generalized. The learned doublet causa, cause kept the original meaning, and the courtroom sense lives on in accuse and excuse. Portuguese coisa (Old Portuguese cousa) and Catalan cosa followed; Romanian says lucru, from LUCRUM 'gain'.

• CAUSAM: Inherited (AU → o), replacing classical RĒS. Portuguese coisa keeps a trace of the diphthong; Romanian uses lucru.
• CAUSAM: The learned doublet of cosa/chose.
• CAUSĀRĪ (Med. Lat. CAUSĀRE): French causer also means 'to chat' — from the Latin 'pleading, talking things over'.
• ACCŪSĀRE: Learned: AD + CAUSA.
• EXCŪSĀRE: Italian scusa / scusi is the everyday 'sorry, excuse me'. Portuguese escusar is formal (everyday 'sorry' is desculpe); Romanian scuza (scuze! 'sorry') is a modern loan.

OCULUM, squeezed to *OCLU, is the classic showcase of the sisters' sound laws: ojo, œil, occhio. The learned branch is pure Latin (ocular, inoculate, from 'grafting a bud', an 'eye'), and French hides the root in aveugle 'blind', most likely from AB OCULĪS 'without eyes'. Portuguese olho, Romanian ochi and Catalan ull continue the pattern.

• OCULUM: Inherited; French plural yeux. Portuguese olho, Romanian ochi and Catalan ull are inherited too.
• OCULĀREM: Learned doublet of ojo/œil/occhio.
• INOCULĀRE: Learned; the medical sense is 18th-century.
• MONOCULUM (Late Latin): A Greek–Latin hybrid; English monocle from French.
• AB OCULĪS: The usual etymology of French aveugle, generally accepted though not certain; Spanish ciego and Italian cieco come from CAECUM. Portuguese cego and Catalan cec are from CAECUM too; Romanian orb is from ORBUM 'bereft'.

LACTEM gave milk in all three sisters with the usual -CT- split: leche, lait, latte. Lettuce belongs here too — LACTŪCA was named for its milky sap — and its sister forms lechuga, laitue, lattuga show the same three outcomes. Romanian lapte and lăptucă show the Eastern -pt-; Portuguese leite and Catalan llet side with French.

• LACTEM: Inherited. Spanish leche is feminine, unlike the masculine lait and latte. Catalan llet is feminine like leche; Romanian lapte is neuter.
• LACTŪCAM: Inherited; English from Old French laitues. Romanian lăptucă is inherited (-CT- → -pt- again); Portuguese alface is from Arabic, and Catalan says enciam.
• LACTEUM: Learned: la Vía Láctea, la Voie lactée, la Via Lattea. Also a Via Láctea (pt), Calea Lactee (ro), la Via Làctia (ca).
• (AL)LACTĀRE: French allaiter and Italian allattare are inherited from Late Latin ALLACTĀRE; Spanish lactar is learned (everyday amamantar). Romanian alăpta and Catalan alletar are inherited too.

ROTA 'wheel' gave rueda, roue, ruota, and its diminutive ROTULUS 'little wheel, roll of parchment' rolled into roll — and, via the actors' scrolls of French theatre, into role. Spanish has rollo beside learned rótulo 'sign, label'. Portuguese and Catalan roda and Romanian roată (with its oa) carry on the wheel.

• ROTAM: Inherited; Spanish and Italian diphthongize stressed short O.
• ROTUNDUM: Inherited (Spanish from dissimilated *RETUNDU); English round via French, rotund learned. Portuguese redondo shares the Spanish dissimilation; Romanian rotund and Catalan rodó are inherited too.
• ROTULUM: Italian rotolo is inherited; French rouleau is a diminutive of rôle (Old French role, from ROTULUS). Spanish rollo is not the regular outcome (compare VETULUM → viejo), so it is probably semi-learned or borrowed. French rôle gave Italian ruolo and English role; Spanish rótulo is the learned doublet. Romanian rulou is a loan from French rouleau.
• ROTĀRE: Spanish rodar 'to roll; to film' is inherited; learned rotar and English rotate are its doublet.

HOSPES meant both 'host' and 'guest', and French hôte and Italian ospite still do. Medieval Latin HOSPITĀLE 'guest-house' split into popular hôtel (Old French hostel) and semi-learned hôpital; English borrowed all three: hostel, hotel, hospital. Romanian oaspete 'guest' is the inherited HOSPITEM; Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan all took hotel from French.

• HOSPITEM: Inherited; English host via Old French oste. Portuguese hóspede, Romanian oaspete and Catalan hoste are inherited; all mean 'guest'.
• HOSPITĀLE (Medieval Latin noun): The popular branch: Old French hostel 'lodging', modern hôtel 'hotel; mansion'. English took both hostel and, later, hotel. Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan hotel are from French.
• HOSPITĀLE (learned): Spanish hospital is learned; French hôpital is semi-learned (Old French ospital); Italian ospedale shows popular voicing of t to d. Romanian spital came by way of Greek spitáli.
• HOSPITĀLITĀTEM: Learned.

SPECIĒS 'appearance, kind' split into a popular 'spice' (goods sorted by kind: especia, épice, spezie) and a learned 'species' (especie, espèce, specie). RESPECTUS 'a looking back' did the same: learned respect beside French répit and English respite, 'a second look, a delay'. Portuguese espelho 'mirror' and respeito show the popular branch too.

• SPECIEM: French épice (Old French espice) is inherited; Spanish especia is semi-learned; Italian spezie is plural. English spice from Old French. Portuguese especiaria is built on the old espécia 'spice'.
• SPECIEM: The learned doublet of the 'spice' words.
• SPECULUM: Inherited (CUL → j / cchi, as in ojo / occhio); French miroir comes from spoken *MĪRĀTŌRIUM. Portuguese espelho too (CUL → lh, as in olho); Catalan mirall is built on MĪRĀRĪ like miroir; Romanian oglindă is Slavic.
• RESPECTUM: Spanish also keeps learned respecto 'regard' (con respecto a); French répit and English respite are the popular branch. Portuguese respeito has the popular CT → it.
• SPECTĀCULUM: Learned.