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"state (government, country)" in seven languages

Meaningstate (government, country)

Spanish

Estado

/esˈtado/

masc.inherited

Lowercase estado is 'condition': en buen estado.

French

État

/eta/

masc.learned

Semi-learned (Old French estat): the inherited form of STATUM is the participle été.

Italian

Stato

/ˈstato/

masc.inherited

lo Stato (s + consonant)

Portuguese

Estado

/esˈtadu/

masc.inherited

Romanian

stat

/stat/

neut.borrowed · Italian stato

Catalan

Estat

/əsˈtat/

masc.inherited

English

state

/steɪt/

from Latin/French · Latin STATUS, partly via Old French estat

English → Italianstate (government, country)StatoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

STATUM‘standing, condition’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

STATUS meant 'condition'; the political sense spread from Renaissance Italian lo stato (Machiavelli). Spanish and French add an e- before the s + consonant cluster; Italian doesn't.

English relatives: status, estate, statistics, station

Sound laws at work

S + consonant at the start of a word

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In a sentence

  • esEl Estado paga las escuelas.
  • frL'État paie les écoles.
  • itLo Stato paga le scuole.
  • ptO Estado paga as escolas.
  • roStatul plătește școlile.
  • caL'Estat paga les escoles.
  • enThe state pays for the schools.

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