"thing" in seven languages
Meaningthing
Spanish
/ˈkosa/
fem.inherited
French
/ʃoz/
fem.inherited
Italian
/ˈkɔsa/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
/ˈkojzɐ/
fem.inherited
AU became ou/oi in Portuguese: CAUSAM → cousa, now coisa.
Romanian
/ˈlukru/
neut.other source · Latin LUCRUM 'gain, profit'
plural: lucruri
CAUSA survives in Romanian only as learned cauză 'cause'.
Catalan
/ˈkɔzə/
fem.inherited
English
/θɪŋ/
native English · Old English þing
The Latin ancestor
CAUSAM‘cause; legal case, matter’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A legal 'case' became any 'thing'. AU shrank to o everywhere and French turned ca- into cha- → cho-. The learned doublet causa / cause / causa kept the old meaning — and English 'because' is 'by cause'.
English relatives: cause, because, accuse
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esTengo que decirte una cosa.
- frJe dois te dire quelque chose.
- itDevo dirti una cosa.
- ptPreciso te contar uma coisa.
- roTrebuie să-ți spun ceva.
- caT'he de dir una cosa.
- enI have to tell you something.
The Latin family
CAUS-· cause, case
CAUSA 'reason, lawsuit' became the ordinary Romance word for 'thing': cosa, chose, cosa — a 'matter' in the legal sense, generalized. The learned doublet causa, cause kept the original meaning, and the courtroom sense lives on in accuse and excuse. Portuguese coisa (Old Portuguese cousa) and Catalan cosa followed; Romanian says lucru, from LUCRUM 'gain'.
CAUSAMcause; case → thing
escosafrchoseitcosaptcoisacacosa
CAUSAMcause (learned)
escausafrcauseitcausaptcausarocauzăcacausaencause
CAUSĀRĪ (Med. Lat. CAUSĀRE)to plead a case; to cause
escausarfrcauseritcausareptcausarrocauzacacausarencause
ACCŪSĀREto call to account
esacusarfraccuseritaccusareptacusarroacuzacaacusarenaccuse
EXCŪSĀREto free from a charge
esexcusarfrexcuseritscusareptescusarroscuzacaexcusarenexcuse