"government" in seven languages
Meaninggovernment
Spanish
/goˈbjeɾno/
masc.inherited
Formed from gobernar; the stressed e breaks to ie as in the verb (gobierna).
French
/guvɛʁnəmɑ̃/
masc.inherited
Built in French on gouverner + -ment.
Italian
/goˈvɛrno/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
/ɡoˈvehnu/
masc.inherited
Romanian
/ɡuˈvern/
neut.borrowed · Italian governo / French gouvernement
Catalan
/ɡuˈbɛrn/
masc.inherited
English
/ˈgʌvɚnmənt/
from Latin/French · Old French governement
The Latin ancestor
GUBERNĀRE‘to steer a ship (from Greek kybernân)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Governing was steering: GUBERNĀRE came from a Greek sailor's verb, the same one behind cybernetics. Spanish breaks the stressed e even in a closed syllable (gobierno); Italian keeps a plain open e.
English relatives: govern, governor, gubernatorial, cybernetics (Greek)
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esEl Gobierno ha subido los impuestos.
- frLe gouvernement a augmenté les impôts.
- itIl governo ha aumentato le tasse.
- ptO governo aumentou os impostos.
- roGuvernul a mărit taxele.
- caEl Govern ha apujat els impostos.
- enThe government has raised taxes.