Sound laws · Law 27 · Endings

-ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio

-ĀRIUM, -ĀRIAM

Spanish

-ero, -era

French

-ier, -ière

Italian

-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iere

Portuguese

-eiro, -eira

Romanian

-ar, -are (căldare)

Catalan

-er, -era

What happened

In -ARIU the yod jumped into the syllable before (-airo), and the resulting ai then went separate ways. Portuguese kept it as -eiro; Spanish and Catalan closed it to e (-ero, -er); French gave -ier; Tuscan Italian dropped the r and kept -aio. Romanian never moved the yod and has plain -ar (căldare). The suffix stayed productive for trades, containers and places in all six.

Examples

Latin	Italian	Spanish	French	Portuguese	Romanian	Catalan	English relative
CABALLĀRIUM‘horseman → knight’	cavaliere	caballero	chevalier	cavaleiro	—	cavaller
CALDĀRIAM‘cauldron, boiler (ro căldare 'bucket')’	caldaia	caldera	chaudière	caldeira	căldare	caldera
IANUĀRIUM‘January’	gennaio	enero	janvier	janeiro	—	gener	January
OPERĀRIUM‘worker’	operaio	obrero	ouvrier	obreiro	—	obrer
GRĀNĀRIUM‘granary’	granaio	granero	grenier	—	—	graner	granary

Decoder

Spanish -ero = Portuguese -eiro = Catalan -er = French -ier = Italian -aio: caballero, cavaleiro, cavaller, chevalier. For learned words expect -ario, -aire, -ário, -ari instead.

Exceptions

Italian -iere comes from Gallo-Romance (cavaliere, cameriere), and Rome and the south say -aro (benzinaro). Learned words have -ario, -aire, -ario, -ário, -ari, English -ary: salario, salaire, salario, salário, salari, salary; Romanian salariu is a modern borrowing.

What happened

Examples

Decoder

Exceptions

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