"to go" in seven languages
Meaningto go
Spanish
/iɾ/
inherited
Voy, vas, va come from VĀDERE; fui is borrowed from ser.
French
/ale/
other source · disputed; most likely Latin AMBULĀRE 'to walk' (via a worn-down *ALLARE)
Je vais is from VĀDERE and j'irai from ĪRE: three Latin verbs in one paradigm.
Italian
/anˈdare/
other source · of disputed origin; often linked to AMBULĀRE or *AMBITĀRE
Vado, vai, va come from VĀDERE.
Portuguese
/ih/
inherited
Romanian
/ˈmerdʒe/
other source · Latin MERGERE 'to dip, sink'
Catalan
/əˈna/
other source · of disputed origin; often linked to AMBULĀRE 'to walk'
English
/ɡoʊ/
native English · Old English gān
Watch out: false friends
merge (English) means “to combine, join” · merge (Romanian) means “to go, walk; to work, function”
Both from Latin MERGERE 'to dip, plunge'. Romanian inherited it and moved from 'plunge on' to plain 'go' (merg acasă 'I'm going home'; merge 'it works'); English borrowed it as a legal 'sink into, absorb', hence 'combine'.
The Latin ancestor
ĪRE‘to go’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
'To go' is a patchwork in all three: Latin ĪRE was too tiny to stand alone, so the sisters stitched it to VĀDERE 'to stride' and (probably) AMBULĀRE 'to walk'. Spanish kept ĪRE as the infinitive; French keeps it only in the future and conditional (j'irai, j'irais), Italian only in literary ire.
English relatives: exit, transit, itinerary (ĪRE); amble, ambulance (AMBULĀRE); invade, evade (VĀDERE)
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In a sentence
- esVamos a la playa.
- frOn va à la plage.
- itAndiamo al mare.
- ptA gente vai à praia.
- roMergem la plajă.
- caAnem a la platja.
- enWe're going to the beach.