"butter" in seven languages
Meaningbutter
Spanish
/manteˈkiʝa/
fem.other source · diminutive of manteca 'lard', of uncertain, probably pre-Roman origin
French
/bœʁ/
masc.inherited
Italian
/ˈburro/
masc.borrowed · Old French burre
Portuguese
/mɐ̃ˈtejgɐ/
fem.other source · of uncertain, probably pre-Roman origin (like Spanish manteca)
Romanian
/unt/
neut.other source · Latin UNCTUM 'ointment, fat'
Catalan
/mənˈtegə/
fem.other source · of uncertain, probably pre-Roman origin (like Spanish manteca)
English
/ˈbʌtɚ/
from Latin/French · Old English butere (an early loan from Latin)
Watch out: false friends
burro (Spanish) means “donkey” · burro (Italian) means “butter”
Coincidence. Italian burro (probably via Old French burre) goes back to Latin BŪTȲRUM, from Greek boútyron; Spanish burro is a back-formation from borrico, from Late Latin BURRĪCUS 'small horse'.
The Latin ancestor
BŪTȲRUM‘butter (from Greek boútyron)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
False-friend alert: Italian burro is butter, Spanish burro is a donkey. Olive-oil cultures used little butter, which is why Italian borrowed the word from the north.
English relatives: butter, butyric
Learn it
In a sentence
- esPan con mantequilla.
- frDu pain et du beurre.
- itPane e burro.
- ptPão com manteiga.
- roPâine cu unt.
- caPa amb mantega.
- enBread and butter.