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"to choose" in seven languages

Meaningto choose

Spanish

elegir

/eleˈxiɾ/

learned

Also escoger, from spoken *EXCOLLIGERE.

French

choisir

/ʃwaziʁ/

other source · Gothic kausjan 'to taste, test'

Italian

scegliere

/ˈʃeʎʎere/

other source · Vulgar Latin *EXĒLIGERE 'to pick out', from ĒLIGERE

Portuguese

escolher

/iskoˈʎeh/

other source · Vulgar Latin *EXCOLLIGERE 'to pick out' (COLLIGERE 'to gather')

Romanian

alege

/aˈledʒe/

inherited

Catalan

triar

/tɾiˈa/

other source · of uncertain origin

Escollir, the twin of Portuguese escolher, is used too.

English

choose

/tʃuz/

native English · Old English cēosan

Choose and French choisir go back to the same Germanic root.

English → Italianto choosescegliereNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: elect, election, elite, elegant.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ĒLIGERE‘to pick out (Ē + LEGERE 'to gather')’

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

The story

Spanish took ĒLIGERE from written Latin; Italian scegliere grew from a prefixed spoken form. French went Germanic: choisir is from Gothic, a cousin of English choose.

English relatives: elect, election, elite, elegant

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In a sentence

  • esElige un color.
  • frChoisis une couleur.
  • itScegli un colore.
  • ptEscolha uma cor.
  • roAlege o culoare.
  • caTria un color.
  • enChoose a colour.

The Latin family

LEG-, LĒCT-· gather, read

LEGERE first meant 'to gather, pick', then 'to pick out letters', to read. Both senses survive: leer, lire, leggere for reading, and COLLIGERE 'gather together' in coger, cueillir, cogliere. The lesson family shows a neat doublet: French leçon is inherited, Spanish lección and Italian lezione are learned. Portuguese ler and Catalan llegir read too; Romanian reads with the Slavic citi, but kept the 'gathering' compounds: culege 'to pick' and alege 'to choose'.

  • LEGEREto gather; to read

    esleerfrlireitleggereptlercallegir

  • LĒCTIŌNEMa reading

    eslecciónfrleçonitlezioneptliçãorolecțiecalliçóenlesson

  • LĒCTŪRAM (Medieval Latin)a reading

    eslecturafrlectureitletturaptleiturarolecturăcalecturaenlecture

  • LĒCTŌREMreader

    eslectorfrlecteuritlettoreptleitorrolectorcalectorenlector

  • COLLIGEREto gather together

    escogerfrcueilliritcogliereptcolherroculegecacollirencull

  • ĒLIGEREto pick out

    eselegirfrélireiteleggereptelegerroalegecaelegirenelect

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