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"amendment (to a law)" in seven languages

Meaningamendment (to a law)

Spanish

enmienda

/enˈmjenda/

fem.inherited

From the verb enmendar, inherited from ĒMENDĀRE.

French

amendement

/amɑ̃dmɑ̃/

masc.inherited

Old French swapped the prefix ex- for a-.

Italian

emendamento

/emendaˈmento/

masc.learned

Portuguese

emenda

/eˈmẽdɐ/

fem.inherited

In everyday use emenda is also a patch or a join.

Romanian

amendament

/amendaˈment/

neut.borrowed · French amendement

Catalan

esmena

/əzˈmɛnə/

fem.inherited

English

amendment

/əˈmɛndmənt/

from Latin/French · Old French amendement

English → Italianamendment (to a law)emendamentoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ĒMENDĀRE‘to free from faults (MENDUM 'fault')’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

ĒMENDĀRE 'to remove a fault' gave Spanish enmendar (with ie under stress: enmienda) and French amender; Italian took the Latin shape. English mend is a clipped amend.

English relatives: emend, mend, amend

Sound laws at work

Stressed short E breaks into ie

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In a sentence

  • esEl Parlamento aprobó la enmienda.
  • frLe Parlement a adopté l'amendement.
  • itIl Parlamento ha approvato l'emendamento.
  • ptO Congresso aprovou a emenda.
  • roParlamentul a aprobat amendamentul.
  • caEl Parlament va aprovar l'esmena.
  • enParliament approved the amendment.

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