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"to elect" in seven languages

Meaningto elect

Spanish

elegir

/eleˈxiɾ/

learned

Also the everyday 'to choose'.

French

élire

/eliʁ/

inherited

Only for votes; 'to choose' is choisir.

Italian

eleggere

/eˈlɛddʒere/

inherited

Conjugated like leggere: eletto 'elected'.

Portuguese

eleger

/eleˈʒeh/

learned

Learned: inherited Portuguese drops a single -l- between vowels (DOLŌREM → dor), and eleger keeps it.

Romanian

alege

/aˈledʒe/

inherited

Alege is also everyday 'to choose'.

Catalan

elegir

/ələˈʒi/

learned

For everyday 'to choose' Catalan says escollir.

English

elect

/ɪˈlɛkt/

from Latin/French · Latin ēlēctus

English → Italianto electeleggereCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ĒLIGERE‘to pick out’

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

The story

ĒLIGERE is 'to pick out' (LEGERE 'to gather, to read'), so French and Italian conjugate it like their verbs for reading (lire, leggere). Spanish elegir is the learned form and serves for any choice.

English relatives: election, elite, select, elegant

Sound laws at work

Initial I- (J-) and G before E, I

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In a sentence

  • esEligieron a un nuevo presidente.
  • frIls ont élu un nouveau président.
  • itHanno eletto un nuovo presidente.
  • ptElegeram um novo presidente.
  • roAu ales un nou președinte.
  • caVan elegir un nou president.
  • enThey elected a new president.

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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