"hill" in seven languages
Meaninghill
Spanish
/koˈlina/
fem.borrowed · Italian collina, or French colline
Cerro and loma are the everyday words in much of Latin America.
French
/kɔlin/
fem.borrowed · probably Italian collina
Italian
/kolˈlina/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
/koˈlinɐ/
fem.borrowed · Italian collina (or French colline)
In Brazil morro is the everyday word for a hill.
Romanian
/de̯al/
neut.other source · probably Slavic (cf. Old Church Slavonic dělŭ)
plural: dealuri
Catalan
/tuˈɾo/
masc.other source · of uncertain, probably pre-Roman origin
English
/hɪl/
Indo-European kin · PIE *kel- 'to be prominent'
The Latin ancestor
COLLĪNAM (Late Latin)‘hilly (ground), from COLLIS 'hill'’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Italian made a noun of the Late Latin adjective COLLĪNA 'of the hills'; French and Spanish probably took it over from Italian. English hill shares an Indo-European root with Latin COLLIS.
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLa casa está en una colina.
- frLa maison est sur une colline.
- itLa casa è su una collina.
- ptA casa fica numa colina.
- roCasa este pe un deal.
- caLa casa és dalt d'un turó.
- enThe house is on a hill.