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"mill" in seven languages

Meaningmill

Spanish

molino

/moˈlino/

masc.inherited

French

moulin

/mulɛ̃/

masc.inherited

Italian

mulino

/muˈlino/

masc.inherited

Portuguese

moinho

/moˈiɲu/

masc.inherited

Portuguese lost the intervocalic -l-: MOLĪNUM → moinho.

Romanian

moară

/ˈmo̯arə/

fem.other source · Latin MOLA 'millstone', the base of MOLĪNUM

Intervocalic -l- became -r-: MOLA → moară.

Catalan

molí

/muˈli/

masc.inherited

Catalan dropped the final -n: MOLĪNUM → molí.

English

mill

/mɪl/

from Latin/French · Old English mylen, from Late Latin MOLĪNA

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

The Latin ancestor

MOLĪNUM (Late Latin)‘mill (MOLA 'millstone')’

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

The story

English took the Latin word so early that it wore down to one syllable, mill; the sisters kept molino, moulin, mulino. Your molars are the 'millstone' teeth.

English relatives: molar, mole (unit)

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

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In a sentence

  • esEl viejo molino está junto al río.
  • frLe vieux moulin est au bord de la rivière.
  • itIl vecchio mulino è vicino al fiume.
  • ptO velho moinho fica perto do rio.
  • roMoara veche e lângă râu.
  • caEl vell molí és a tocar del riu.
  • enThe old mill is by the river.

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