"day" in seven languages
Meaningday
Spanish
/ˈdia/
masc.other source · Latin DIEM 'day'
Masculine despite its -a: el día, buenos días.
French
/ʒuʁ/
masc.inherited
Plain DIEM survives hidden in the weekday names (lundi) and in midi.
Italian
/ˈdʒorno/
masc.inherited
The short dì survives in the weekdays (lunedì) and in buondì.
Portuguese
/ˈdʒiɐ/
masc.other source · Latin DIEM 'day'
Romanian
/zi/
fem.other source · Latin DIEM 'day'
plural: zile
Latin d before i became z in Romanian: DIEM → zi, DĪCERE → zice.
Catalan
/ˈdiə/
masc.other source · Latin DIEM 'day'
Old and literary Catalan jorn is the DIURNUM word, like French jour.
English
/deɪ/
native English · Old English dæg
Despite the look-alike, day is not related to Latin DIĒS.
The Latin ancestor
DIURNUM‘daily, of the day (from DIĒS)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
French and Italian replaced DIĒS with the adjective 'daily'; Spanish kept DIĒS itself. English journey was once 'a day's travel'.
English relatives: journal, journey, diurnal (DIURNUS); diary, dial (DIĒS)
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¡Qué día tan bonito!
- frQuelle belle journée !
- itChe bella giornata!
- ptQue dia lindo!
- roCe zi frumoasă!
- caQuin dia més bonic!
- enWhat a beautiful day!