"round" in seven languages
Meaninground
Spanish
/reˈdondo/
inherited
French
/ʁɔ̃/
inherited
Italian
/roˈtondo/
inherited
The shortened tondo is just as common.
Portuguese
/heˈdõdu/
inherited
Romanian
/roˈtund/
learned
Catalan
/ruˈdo/
inherited
fem.: rodona
The masculine lost its final -n, which comes back in the feminine rodona.
English
/ɹaʊnd/
from Latin/French · Old French ro(o)nt
The Latin ancestor
ROTUNDUM‘round, wheel-shaped’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish redondo shows the classic t → d, plus an o → e change that keeps two o's from following each other. French cut the word down to a single nasal syllable, rond.
English relatives: rotund, rotunda, rotate
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esNos sentamos a una mesa redonda.
- frOn s'est assis à une table ronde.
- itCi siamo seduti a un tavolo rotondo.
- ptSentamos a uma mesa redonda.
- roNe-am așezat la o masă rotundă.
- caEns vam asseure a una taula rodona.
- enWe sat at a round table.
The Latin family
ROT-· wheel, roll
ROTA 'wheel' gave rueda, roue, ruota, and its diminutive ROTULUS 'little wheel, roll of parchment' rolled into roll — and, via the actors' scrolls of French theatre, into role. Spanish has rollo beside learned rótulo 'sign, label'. Portuguese and Catalan roda and Romanian roată (with its oa) carry on the wheel.
ROTAMwheel
esruedafrroueitruotaptrodaroroatăcaroda
ROTUNDUMwheel-shaped, round
esredondofrronditrotondoptredondororotundcarodóenround
ROTULUMlittle wheel; scroll
esrollofrrouleauitrotoloptrolororuloucarotlleenroll
ROTĀREto turn like a wheel
esrodaritruotareptrodarcarodarenrotate
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