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"list" in seven languages

Meaninglist

Spanish

lista

/ˈlista/

fem.borrowed · Italian lista (the 'catalogue' sense; the word for 'strip' may be older in Spanish)

French

liste

/list/

fem.borrowed · Italian lista

Italian

lista

/ˈlista/

fem.inherited

A Longobard word; also elenco for a formal list.

Portuguese

lista

/ˈlistɐ/

fem.borrowed · probably Italian lista, as for Spanish and French

Romanian

listă

/ˈlistə/

fem.borrowed · French liste

Catalan

llista

/ˈʎistə/

fem.inherited

Catalan turns initial l- into ll- in words it has always spoken: LŪNA → lluna, *līsta → llista.

English

list

/lɪst/

from Latin/French · French liste / Italian lista

English → ItalianlistlistaCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The ancestor

Germanic *līsta‘strip, edge’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Not Latin at all: a Germanic word for a strip or edge (German Leiste is a relative). A narrow strip of paper with names on it became a list, and French took the word from Italian.

English relatives: listing, enlist

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In a sentence

  • esHe hecho la lista de la compra.
  • frJ'ai fait la liste de courses.
  • itHo fatto la lista della spesa.
  • ptFiz a lista de compras.
  • roAm făcut lista de cumpărături.
  • caHe fet la llista de la compra.
  • enI've made the shopping list.

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