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"fame" in seven languages

Meaningfame

Spanish

fama

/ˈfama/

fem.learned

French

renommée

/ʁənɔme/

fem.other source · renommer 'to name again, praise', from Latin NŌMINĀRE

Célébrité is just as common; the old word survives in mal famé 'disreputable'.

Italian

fama

/ˈfama/

fem.learned

Portuguese

fama

/ˈfɐ̃mɐ/

fem.learned

Romanian

faimă

/ˈfajmə/

fem.inherited

Traced to Latin FĀMA by the dictionaries; the i is unexplained.

Catalan

fama

/ˈfamə/

fem.learned

English

fame

/feɪm/

from Latin/French · Old French fame, from Latin FĀMA

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

The Latin ancestor

FĀMAM‘talk, rumour, reputation’

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

The story

Latin FĀMA was first 'what people say', good or bad, which is why infamous is bad. Spanish and Italian took it from books; French says renommée, being named again and again.

English relatives: famous, infamous, defame

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In a sentence

  • esDebe su fama a esa novela.
  • frIl doit sa renommée à ce roman.
  • itDeve la sua fama a quel romanzo.
  • ptEle deve a fama a esse romance.
  • roÎși datorează faima acelui roman.
  • caDeu la seva fama a aquella novel·la.
  • enHe owes his fame to that novel.

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