"room, bedroom" in seven languages
Meaningroom, bedroom
Spanish
/abitaˈθjon/
fem.other source · learned, from Latin HABITĀTIŌNEM 'dwelling'
Also cuarto; Spanish cámara is now a camera.
French
/ʃɑ̃bʁ/
fem.inherited
Chambre is a bedroom; a room in general is une pièce or une salle.
Italian
/ˈkamera/
fem.inherited
Camera da letto is the bedroom; stanza is any room.
Portuguese
/ˈkwahtu/
masc.other source · Latin QUARTUM 'fourth (part)'
Romanian
/ˈkamerə/
fem.borrowed · Italian camera
The inherited doublet is cămară 'pantry'.
Catalan
/əbitəsiˈo/
fem.other source · Latin HABITĀTIŌNEM 'dwelling' (learned)
Inherited cambra survives, but sounds formal or old-fashioned.
English
/ɹum/
native English · Old English rūm
Watch out: false friends
camera (English) means “device for taking photos” · camera (Italian) means “room (camera da letto: bedroom)”
Latin CAMERA 'vaulted room' (from Greek). English camera is short for camera obscura 'dark chamber', the room-sized ancestor of the device; Italian kept the room.
The Latin ancestor
CAMERAM‘vaulted room (from Greek kamára 'vault')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Italian keeps CAMERA unchanged; French turned ca- into cha- and slipped a b into the cluster m'r (chambre). English camera is short for camera obscura, 'dark room'.
English relatives: chamber, camera, comrade (Spanish camarada 'roommate')
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esMi habitación está arriba.
- frMa chambre est en haut.
- itLa mia camera è di sopra.
- ptMeu quarto fica lá em cima.
- roCamera mea e la etaj.
- caLa meva habitació és a dalt.
- enMy room is upstairs.