"goose" in seven languages
Meaninggoose
Spanish
/ˈɡanso/
masc.other source · Gothic *gans 'goose'
Also oca, from AUCA.
French
/wa/
fem.inherited
Italian
/ˈɔka/
fem.inherited
Plural oche.
Portuguese
/ˈɡɐ̃su/
masc.other source · Gothic *gans 'goose'
Romanian
/ˈɡɨskə/
fem.other source · Slavic gąska 'goose'
Plural gâște.
Catalan
/ˈɔkə/
fem.inherited
English
/ɡus/
native English · Old English gōs
plural: geese
Spanish and Portuguese ganso is its Germanic cousin.
The Latin ancestor
AUCAM‘goose; a 'bird' (from AVIS)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spoken Latin AUCA, a 'bird' (from AVIS), became the farmyard goose, with AU → o in oca and oie. Spanish and Portuguese took a Gothic word, the cousin of English goose, and Romanian a Slavic one (gâscă) — the same Indo-European bird.
English relatives: aviary, aviation (from AVIS)
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esHay gansos en el lago.
- frIl y a des oies sur le lac.
- itCi sono delle oche sul lago.
- ptHá gansos no lago.
- roSunt gâște pe lac.
- caHi ha oques al llac.
- enThere are geese on the lake.