"tent" in seven languages
Meaningtent
Spanish
/ˈtjenda de kamˈpaɲa/
fem.inherited
Tienda alone is usually a shop; campers add de campaña 'field tent'.
French
/tɑ̃t/
fem.inherited
Strictly from *TENDITA 'stretched', a participle of the same verb TENDERE.
Italian
/ˈtɛnda/
fem.inherited
Also a curtain.
Portuguese
/baˈhakɐ/
fem.other source · of uncertain origin
Portugal says tenda, from the same *TENDA.
Romanian
/kort/
neut.other source · of uncertain origin
Catalan
/ˈtɛndə/
fem.inherited
Also the everyday word for 'shop', as in Spanish tienda.
English
/tɛnt/
from Latin/French · Old French tente
Watch out: false friends
tienda (Spanish) means “shop; tent” · tenda (Italian) means “curtain; tent”
Both from spoken Latin *TENDITA 'something stretched out'. Spanish market stalls turned the tent into a shop; Italian stretched it across a window.
The Latin ancestor
*TENDA‘tent, awning (from TENDERE 'to stretch')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A tent is 'something stretched'. Spanish breaks the open e into ie (tienda) and later used the word for a market stall, hence a shop; Italian keeps tɛnda with an open e.
English relatives: tent, tend, tension, extend
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esDormimos en una tienda de campaña junto al lago.
- frOn a dormi sous une tente au bord du lac.
- itAbbiamo dormito in tenda vicino al lago.
- ptA gente dormiu numa barraca perto do lago.
- roAm dormit în cort lângă lac.
- caVam dormir en una tenda vora el llac.
- enWe slept in a tent by the lake.