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"empire" in seven languages

Meaningempire

Spanish

imperio

/imˈpeɾjo/

masc.learned

French

empire

/ɑ̃piʁ/

masc.learned

Semi-learned; compare the inherited empereur 'emperor'.

Italian

impero

/imˈpɛro/

masc.learned

Portuguese

império

/ĩˈpɛɾiu/

masc.learned

Romanian

imperiu

/imˈperju/

neut.learned

Catalan

imperi

/imˈpɛɾi/

masc.learned

English

empire

/ˈɛmpaɪɚ/

from Latin/French · Old French empire

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

The Latin ancestor

IMPERIUM‘command, rule’

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

The story

IMPERIUM was the power to command; the territory came later. French nasalized the first syllable (em- [ɑ̃]), and English borrowed that French shape.

English relatives: imperial, emperor, imperative

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

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In a sentence

  • esEl Imperio romano era enorme.
  • frL'Empire romain était immense.
  • itL'Impero romano era enorme.
  • ptO Império Romano era enorme.
  • roImperiul Roman era imens.
  • caL'Imperi Romà era enorme.
  • enThe Roman Empire was huge.

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