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"early" in seven languages

Meaningearly

Spanish

temprano

/temˈpɾano/

inherited

French

tôt

/to/

other source · Latin TOSTUM 'roasted, scorched', hence 'quickly'

The circumflex marks the lost s of TOSTUM.

Italian

presto

/ˈprɛsto/

other source · Latin PRAESTŌ 'at hand, ready'

Presto also means 'soon': a presto!

Portuguese

cedo

/ˈsedu/

other source · Latin CITŌ 'quickly'

Romanian

devreme

/deˈvreme/

other source · de + vreme 'time', from Old Church Slavonic vrěmę

Catalan

d'hora

/ˈdɔɾə/

other source · de + hora 'hour' (Latin HŌRAM)

English

early

/ˈɝli/

native English · Old English ǣrlīce

English → ItalianearlyprestoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: temporary, contemporary, tempo; (Italian presto) presto.What English and Italian share

Watch out: false friends

  • prêt (French) means “ready” · presto (Italian) means “soon, early”

    Both from Latin PRAESTŌ 'at hand' (Late Latin adjective PRAESTUS). French kept 'ready'; Italian 'right away' → 'soon'. The two languages crossed with pronto.

All false friends

The Latin ancestor

TEMPORĀNUM‘timely (from TEMPUS 'time')’

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

The story

Three unrelated words: Spanish 'timely', French 'roasted' (from 'done quickly'), Italian 'at hand'. Musicians know presto as 'fast', which is where the Italian sense comes from.

English relatives: temporary, contemporary, tempo; (Italian presto) presto

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esMe levanto temprano.
  • frJe me lève tôt.
  • itMi alzo presto.
  • ptEu acordo cedo.
  • roMă trezesc devreme.
  • caEm llevo d'hora.
  • enI get up early.

More in Time

All Time words