"romance (love affair)" in seven languages
Meaningromance (love affair)
Spanish
/roˈmanθe/
masc.inherited
Also a traditional ballad, and the old name for the Spanish language itself.
French
/idil/
fem.other source · Latin IDYLLIUM, from Greek eidýllion 'little picture'
Italian
/ˈstɔrja daˈmore/
fem.other source · Latin HISTORIAM 'story' + AMŌREM 'love'
Portuguese
/hoˈmɐ̃si/
masc.inherited
Romance also means 'novel' in Portuguese (um romance policial 'a detective novel').
Romanian
/iˈdilə/
fem.other source · French idylle, from Latin IDYLLIUM (Greek eidýllion)
Catalan
/iˈdilli/
masc.other source · Latin IDYLLIUM, from Greek eidýllion 'little picture'
English
/ˈɹoʊmæns/
from Latin/French · Old French romanz 'a tale in the vernacular'
The Latin ancestor
ROMĀNICĒ‘in the Roman way (of speaking)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
ROMĀNICĒ meant 'in the people's Latin', as opposed to learned Latin; tales told that way became romances. The trap: French roman and Italian romanzo mean 'novel', not a love affair.
English relatives: Romance (languages), romantic, Roman
Learn it
In a sentence
- esFue un romance de verano.
- frC'était une idylle d'été.
- itÈ stata una storia d'amore estiva.
- ptFoi um romance de verão.
- roA fost o idilă de vară.
- caVa ser un idil·li d'estiu.
- enIt was a summer romance.