"knee" in seven languages
Meaningknee
Spanish
rodilla
/roˈdiʝa/
fem.other source · Latin ROTELLAM 'little wheel' (the kneecap)
French
genou
/ʒənu/
masc.inherited
Italian
ginocchio
/dʒiˈnɔkkjo/
masc.inherited
plural: ginocchia (f) / ginocchi
Portuguese
joelho
/ʒoˈeʎu/
masc.inherited
Romanian
genunchi
/dʒeˈnunkʲ/
masc.inherited
plural: genunchi
Catalan
genoll
/ʒəˈnoʎ/
masc.inherited
English
knee
/ni/
Indo-European kin · PIE *ǵónu
English → ItaliankneeginocchioDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: genuflect.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
GENUCULUM‘little knee (diminutive of GENU)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
French and Italian chose the diminutive GENUCULUM (ginocchio shows the medial-cl law); Spanish named the knee after the kneecap, a 'little wheel'. GENUCULUM lingers in Spanish only in de hinojos 'kneeling'.
English relatives: genuflect
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esMe duele la rodilla cuando corro.
- frJ'ai mal au genou quand je cours.
- itMi fa male il ginocchio quando corro.
- ptMeu joelho dói quando eu corro.
- roMă doare genunchiul când alerg.
- caEm fa mal el genoll quan corro.
- enMy knee hurts when I run.