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Sound laws · Law 18 · Clusters

CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a word

CL- PL- FL-

Spanish

ll- (often)

French

cl- pl- fl- (kept)

Italian

chi- pi- fi-

Portuguese

ch- [ʃ]

Romanian

CL- → che-, chi- [kʲ]; PL-, FL- kept

Catalan

cl- pl- fl- (kept)

What happened

Italian turned the l after a consonant into a y-glide (a common change: the tongue skips the lateral). Spanish went further and fused the whole cluster into one palatal sound, written ll, and Portuguese further still, to a hushing ch [ʃ] (once [tʃ]). Romanian did the Italian thing only after c (and g): CL- → chi-, che- [kʲ], GL- → ghi-, while PL- and FL- stayed. French and Catalan kept the clusters as Latin had them.

Examples

LatinItalianSpanishFrenchPortugueseRomanianCatalanEnglish relative
CLĀVEM‘key’chiavellavecléchavecheieclauclavicle
CLAMĀRE‘to cry out → to call’chiamarellamarclamerchamarchemaclamarclaim
PLĒNUM‘full’pienollenopleincheioplinpleplenty
FLAMMAM‘flame’fiammallamaflammechama—flamaflame
PLUVIAM‘rain’pioggialluviapluiechuvaploaieplujapluvial
PLAGAM‘blow → wound’piagallagaplaiechaga—plagaplague

Decoder

Spanish ll- or Portuguese ch- at the start of a word? Try cl-/pl-/fl- for French and Catalan and chi-/pi-/fi- for Italian: llave, chave → clé, clau, chiave. Romanian chi-, che- answers only to cl-: cheie, chema.

Exceptions

Learned words keep the cluster everywhere: clave, plano, flor (es) beside llave, llano; Portuguese has a third outcome, pr-, in words like praia (PLAGIAM) and prazer (PLACĒRE). French clamer is now literary ('to proclaim'); Romanian GL- → ghi- shows in gheață (VL *GLACIAM).

Watch it happen: CLĀVEM

In your word bank