"silk" in seven languages
Meaningsilk
Spanish
seda
/ˈseda/
fem.inherited
French
soie
/swa/
fem.inherited
Italian
seta
/ˈseta/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
seda
/ˈsedɐ/
fem.inherited
Romanian
mătase
/məˈtase/
fem.other source · Greek metáxi 'silk'
Catalan
seda
/ˈsɛdə/
fem.inherited
English
silk
/sɪlk/
other source · Old English sioloc (Latin sēricum)
English → ItaliansilksetaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
SĒTAM (also SAETAM)‘bristle, coarse hair’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Latin's word for a pig's bristle came to mean silk thread. Lenition in one row: Italian keeps t, Spanish voices it to d, French loses it (soie).