"clothes" in seven languages
Meaningclothes
Spanish
/ˈropa/
fem.other source · Gothic *raupa 'spoils, plunder'
A collective singular: la ropa.
French
/vɛtmɑ̃/
masc.inherited
Usually plural: les vêtements.
Italian
/vesˈtiti/
masc.inherited
Plural of vestito, from vestire 'to dress'.
Portuguese
/ˈhowpɐ/
fem.other source · Germanic *raupa 'spoils, plunder'
A collective singular, like Spanish ropa.
Romanian
/ˈhajne/
fem.other source · of uncertain origin
Plural of haină 'garment'.
Catalan
/ˈrɔbə/
fem.other source · Germanic *rauba 'spoils, booty'
English
/kloʊðz/
native English · Old English clāþas
Watch out: false friends
robe (French) means “dress” · ropa (Spanish) means “clothes”
Both from Germanic *rauba 'booty, spoils' — clothes being what was stripped from the defeated (Spanish robar 'to steal' is the same root). Spanish generalized it; French narrowed it to one garment.
roba (Italian) means “stuff, things” · ropa (Spanish) means “clothes”
Same Germanic *rauba 'spoils'. Italian roba kept the general 'goods, stuff' (roba da mangiare 'things to eat'); Spanish narrowed it to clothing.
The Latin ancestor
VESTĪMENTUM‘clothing (from VESTĪRE 'to clothe')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish dresses in Germanic 'loot' — clothes stripped from the defeated — the same root as French robe and English rob. French vêtement hides the s of VESTĪMENTUM under its circumflex.
English relatives: vest, vestment, travesty; rob, robe (the Germanic cognates of ropa)
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esTengo que lavar la ropa.
- frJe dois laver mes vêtements.
- itDevo lavare i vestiti.
- ptPreciso lavar a roupa.
- roTrebuie să-mi spăl hainele.
- caHe de rentar la roba.
- enI need to wash my clothes.