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"exit, way out" in seven languages

Meaningexit, way out

Spanish

salida

/saˈlida/

fem.other source · from salir 'to go out' (Latin SALĪRE 'to jump')

French

sortie

/sɔʁti/

fem.other source · from sortir 'to go out', of disputed origin (perhaps SORTĪRĪ 'to draw lots')

Italian

uscita

/uʃˈʃita/

fem.inherited

From uscire, whose u- comes from uscio 'door' (OSTIUM).

Portuguese

saída

/saˈidɐ/

fem.other source · from sair 'to go out' (Latin SALĪRE 'to jump')

Portuguese lost the intervocalic -l-: SALĪRE → sair.

Romanian

ieșire

/jeˈʃire/

fem.inherited

Catalan

sortida

/surˈtidə/

fem.other source · from sortir 'to go out', of disputed origin

English

exit

/ˈɛɡzɪt/

from Latin/French · Latin EXITUS

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

Watch out: false friends

  • éxito (Spanish) means “success” · exit (English) means “way out”

    Both from Latin EXITUS 'a going out; outcome'. Spanish took the happy outcome; English kept the door.

All false friends

The Latin ancestor

EXĪRE‘to go out’

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

The story

Only Italian kept Latin's 'go out' — and even it was reshaped after the word for door. Spain jumps out, and France's sortir is still an etymological puzzle.

English relatives: exit

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In a sentence

  • es¿Dónde está la salida?
  • frOù est la sortie ?
  • itDov'è l'uscita?
  • ptOnde fica a saída?
  • roUnde e ieșirea?
  • caOn és la sortida?
  • enWhere's the exit?

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