"jam" in seven languages
Meaningjam
Spanish
/meɾmeˈlada/
fem.borrowed · Portuguese marmelada 'quince paste'
French
/kɔ̃fityʁ/
fem.other source · confire 'to preserve', Latin CONFICERE 'to prepare'
Italian
/marmelˈlata/
fem.borrowed · Portuguese marmelada (perhaps via Spanish)
Portuguese
/ʒeˈlɛjɐ/
fem.other source · French gelée 'jelly' (Latin GELĀTAM 'frozen')
Marmelada is quince paste; in Portugal jam is doce or compota.
Romanian
/dʒem/
neut.other source · English jam
Catalan
/məlməˈladə/
fem.borrowed · Portuguese marmelada, via Spanish
Also confitura.
English
/dʒæm/
native English · uncertain, perhaps jam 'to press'
Marmalade is the shared word, kept in English for citrus jam.
The Latin ancestor
MELIMĒLUM (via Portuguese marmelada)‘honey apple, a sweet quince (Greek melímēlon)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Portuguese marmelada was quince paste (marmelo 'quince', from Greek melímēlon 'honey apple'). Spanish, Italian and Catalan took it for every jam, English for oranges only; French keeps fruit 'preserved' (confiture), and Brazilian Portuguese says geleia.
English relatives: marmalade
Learn it
In a sentence
- esHay mermelada de fresa para desayunar.
- frIl y a de la confiture de fraises pour le petit-déjeuner.
- itC'è la marmellata di fragole per colazione.
- ptTem geleia de morango no café da manhã.
- roAvem gem de căpșuni la micul dejun.
- caHi ha melmelada de maduixa per esmorzar.
- enThere's strawberry jam for breakfast.