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"bottle" in seven languages

Meaningbottle

Spanish

botella

/boˈteʝa/

fem.borrowed · French bouteille

French

bouteille

/butɛj/

fem.inherited

Italian

bottiglia

/botˈtiʎʎa/

fem.borrowed · French bouteille

Portuguese

garrafa

/gaˈhafɐ/

fem.other source · of uncertain origin (perhaps Arabic)

Romanian

sticlă

/ˈstiklə/

fem.other source · Slavic stĭklo 'glass'

Catalan

ampolla

/əmˈpoʎə/

fem.other source · Latin AMPULLAM 'flask'

botella, from Spanish, is common in speech.

English

bottle

/ˈbɑtəl/

from Latin/French · Old French bouteille

English → ItalianbottlebottigliaCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

*BUTTICULAM‘little cask (Late Latin, dim. of BUTTIS)’

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

The story

French grew -ICULA into -eille regularly (like oreille from AURICULA); Spanish and Italian borrowed the French word and refitted it with their own diminutive endings.

English relatives: bottle (via Old French), butt (a cask), butler (the bottle-keeper)

Sound laws at work

C'L inside a word

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In a sentence

  • esUna botella de agua.
  • frUne bouteille d'eau.
  • itUna bottiglia d'acqua.
  • ptUma garrafa de água.
  • roO sticlă de apă.
  • caUna ampolla d'aigua.
  • enA bottle of water.

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