"law" in seven languages
Meaninglaw
Spanish
/lej/
fem.inherited
French
/lwa/
fem.inherited
Italian
/ˈleddʒe/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
/lej/
fem.inherited
Romanian
/ˈledʒe/
fem.inherited
Catalan
/ʎɛj/
fem.inherited
English
/lɔ/
native English · Old Norse lagu 'something laid down'
Not related to 'legal' despite the meaning: it is a cognate of 'lay'.
The Latin ancestor
LĒGEM‘law’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and French dissolved the g into a glide (ley, loi); Italian strengthened it to ddʒ. English loyal and legal are both LĒGĀLIS — one worn down in Old French mouths, one taken from books.
English relatives: legal, legislate, legitimate, loyal
Learn it
In a sentence
- esNadie está por encima de la ley.
- frPersonne n'est au-dessus de la loi.
- itNessuno è al di sopra della legge.
- ptNinguém está acima da lei.
- roNimeni nu e mai presus de lege.
- caNingú no està per sobre de la llei.
- enNobody is above the law.
The Latin family
LĒX, LĒG-· law
LĒGĀLEM 'of the law' is a textbook doublet: in speech it lost its g and drifted from 'lawful' to 'faithful' (leal, loyal); in writing it stayed legal. English borrowed both from French, centuries apart, and so has loyal and legal side by side. Portuguese leal and Catalan lleial took the popular road too; Romanian, which inherited lege 'law', borrowed loial and legal from French.
LĒGEMlaw
esleyfrloiitleggeptleirolegecallei
LĒGĀLEMlawful → faithful
eslealfrloyalitlealeptlealroloialcalleialenloyal
LĒGĀLEMlegal (learned)
eslegalfrlégalitlegaleptlegalrolegalcalegalenlegal
LĒGITIMUMlawful, legitimate
eslegítimofrlégitimeitlegittimoptlegítimorolegitimcalegítimenlegitimate
PRĪVILĒGIUMa law for one person
esprivilegiofrprivilègeitprivilegioptprivilégioroprivilegiucaprivilegienprivilege