"money" in seven languages
Meaningmoney
Spanish
/diˈneɾo/
masc.inherited
French
/aʁʒɑ̃/
masc.other source · Latin ARGENTUM 'silver'
Italian
/ˈsɔldi/
masc.other source · Latin SOLIDUM, the gold solidus coin (soldo, pl. soldi)
Always plural in this sense; the more formal word is denaro, Spanish dinero's cognate.
Portuguese
/dʒiˈɲejɾu/
masc.inherited
Romanian
/banʲ/
masc.other source · plural of ban 'small coin', of disputed origin (usually linked to the title ban 'governor')
Always plural in this sense, like Catalan diners.
Catalan
/diˈnes/
masc.inherited
Plural, like Romanian bani; the -r- is silent in Central Catalan.
English
/ˈmʌni/
other source · Old French moneie (Latin MONĒTAM)
The Latin ancestor
DĒNĀRIUM‘denarius, a silver coin (originally worth ten asses)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Three coins: Spanish named money after the Roman denarius, French after the metal itself, silver, and Italian after the gold solidus — the coin that paid the soldier, whose name it still carries.
English relatives: denarius, dinar; argent (heraldry), Argentina; soldier (paid in solidi)
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esNo tengo dinero.
- frJe n'ai pas d'argent.
- itNon ho soldi.
- ptNão tenho dinheiro.
- roNu am bani.
- caNo tinc diners.
- enI don't have any money.