"age" in seven languages
Meaningage
Spanish
edad
/eˈdad/
fem.inherited
French
âge
/ɑʒ/
masc.other source · Old French aage, from Vulgar Latin *AETĀTICUM (AETĀS + -ĀTICUM)
Italian
età
/eˈta/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
idade
/iˈdadʒi/
fem.inherited
Romanian
vârstă
/ˈvɨrstə/
fem.other source · Old Church Slavonic vrŭsta 'age'
Catalan
edat
/əˈdat/
fem.inherited
English
age
/eɪdʒ/
other source · Old French aage, from Vulgar Latin *AETĀTICUM
Built on the same AETĀS as edad and età, with an extra suffix.
English → ItalianageetàNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: eternal, eternity (from the related AEVUM).What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
AETĀTEM‘age, lifetime’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian wore AETĀTEM down like any -TĀTEM word (edad, età). French added the suffix -ĀTICUM first, and the circumflex of âge marks the two a's of Old French aage that fused.
English relatives: eternal, eternity (from the related AEVUM)
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esA tu edad yo ya trabajaba.
- frÀ ton âge, je travaillais déjà.
- itAlla tua età lavoravo già.
- ptNa sua idade eu já trabalhava.
- roLa vârsta ta, eu lucram deja.
- caA la teva edat jo ja treballava.
- enAt your age I was already working.