"family" in seven languages
Meaningfamily
Spanish
/faˈmilja/
fem.learned
French
/famij/
fem.learned
Taken from Latin in the Middle Ages despite its popular-looking -ille.
Italian
/faˈmiʎʎa/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
/faˈmiljɐ/
fem.learned
An inherited form would have turned LI into lh, as in filha.
Romanian
/faˈmilie/
fem.learned
Catalan
/fəˈmiliə/
fem.learned
An inherited form would have turned LI into ll, as in filla.
English
/ˈfæməli/
from Latin/French · Latin
The Latin ancestor
FAMILIAM‘household (servants included)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Latin FAMILIA was the whole household, slaves included (FAMULUS 'servant'). Italian famiglia shows the inherited LI → gli; Spanish familia is learned — an inherited form would have turned LI into j, as in hija.
English relatives: family, familiar
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esMi familia es de Sevilla.
- frMa famille vient de Séville.
- itLa mia famiglia è di Siviglia.
- ptMinha família é de Sevilha.
- roFamilia mea e din Sevilla.
- caLa meva família és de Sevilla.
- enMy family is from Seville.