"blue" in seven languages
Meaningblue
Spanish
/aˈθul/
other source · Arabic lāzaward, from Persian lāžward 'lapis lazuli'
The initial l- was lost, probably taken for an article.
French
/blø/
inherited
Italian
/blu/
borrowed · French bleu
Azzurro (sky blue, the national colour) is the Persian-Arabic word, like Spanish azul.
Portuguese
/aˈzuw/
other source · Arabic lāzaward, from Persian lāžward 'lapis lazuli'
Romanian
/alˈbastru/
other source · spoken Latin *ALBASTRUM 'whitish', from ALBUS 'white'
fem.: albastră
A word for 'whitish' that drifted to 'blue'.
Catalan
/blaw/
inherited
Catalan shares the Germanic word with French and Occitan; Spanish never took it.
English
/blu/
from Latin/French · Old French bleu
Middle English took blew from French, overlaying native Old English blāw from the same Germanic root.
The ancestor
Frankish *blāo‘blue’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Latin had no firm word for blue. French took a Frankish one and passed it to Italian; Spanish named the colour after the precious blue stone, lapis lazuli — as did Italian azzurro.
English relatives: blue (Germanic cognate); azure, lapis lazuli (from the Arabic-Persian word)
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In a sentence
- esHoy el mar está muy azul.
- frLa mer est très bleue aujourd'hui.
- itOggi il mare è azzurrissimo.
- ptO mar está muito azul hoje.
- roMarea e foarte albastră azi.
- caAvui el mar està molt blau.
- enThe sea is very blue today.