"night" in seven languages
Meaningnight
Spanish
noche
/ˈnotʃe/
fem.inherited
French
nuit
/nɥi/
fem.inherited
Italian
notte
/ˈnɔtte/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
noite
/ˈnojtʃi/
fem.inherited
Romanian
noapte
/ˈno̯apte/
fem.inherited
plural: nopți
Romanian turns Latin -CT- into -pt-: NOCTEM → noapte, LACTEM → lapte.
Catalan
nit
/nit/
fem.inherited
English
night
/naɪt/
Indo-European kin · PIE *nókʷts
English → ItaliannightnotteDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: nocturnal, nocturne, equinox.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
NOCTEM (nom. NOX)‘night’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The showcase of the CT law: Spanish ch, French it, Italian tt — as in ocho / huit / otto and leche / lait / latte.
English relatives: nocturnal, nocturne, equinox
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esBuenas noches, que duermas bien.
- frBonne nuit, dors bien.
- itBuonanotte, dormi bene.
- ptBoa noite, durma bem.
- roNoapte bună, somn ușor!
- caBona nit, que dormis bé.
- enGood night, sleep well.