"heart" in seven languages
Meaningheart
Spanish
/koɾaˈθon/
masc.inherited
Built on an augmentative, *CORATIŌNEM.
French
/kœʁ/
masc.inherited
Italian
/ˈkwɔre/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
/koɾaˈsɐ̃w/
masc.inherited
Built on an augmentative, like Spanish corazón.
Romanian
/ˈinimə/
fem.other source · Latin ANIMAM 'breath, soul'
Catalan
/kɔɾ/
masc.inherited
English
/hɑɹt/
Indo-European kin · PIE *ḱḗr
The Latin ancestor
COR‘heart’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
French cœur and Italian cuore break the open o of COR. Latin COR was too short to last unaided, so Spanish built the bigger corazón on an augmentative.
English relatives: cordial, courage, record
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEl corazón me late muy rápido.
- frMon cœur bat très vite.
- itIl cuore mi batte forte.
- ptMeu coração está batendo muito rápido.
- roInima îmi bate foarte repede.
- caEl cor em batega molt de pressa.
- enMy heart is beating fast.
The Latin family
COR, CORD-· heart
COR was a short neuter noun; French and Italian kept it (cœur, cuore), while Spanish replaced it with an augmentative *CORĀTIŌNE → corazón. The oblique stem CORD- lives on in learned words, and the Romans located memory in the heart: RECORDĀRĪ is 'to bring back to heart'. Catalan kept cor; Portuguese shares coração with Spanish; Romanian calls the heart inimă, from ANIMA 'breath, soul'.
CORheart
frcœuritcuorecacor
*CORĀTIŌNEMbig heart (augmentative)
escorazónptcoração
CORDIĀLEM (Medieval Latin)of the heart
escordialfrcordialitcordialeptcordialrocordialcacordialencordial
RECORDĀRĪto call to mind
esrecordaritricordareptrecordarcarecordarenrecord
CONCORDIAMagreement, 'hearts together'
esconcordiafrconcordeitconcordiaptconcórdiaroconcordiecaconcòrdiaenconcord
COR + -ĀTICUM (Old French formation)heart-ness, spirit
escorajefrcourageitcoraggioptcoragemrocurajcacoratgeencourage