"to read" in seven languages
Meaningto read
Spanish
/leˈeɾ/
inherited
French
/liʁ/
inherited
Italian
/ˈlɛddʒere/
inherited
Portuguese
/leh/
inherited
Romanian
/tʃiˈti/
other source · Slavic čisti, čĭtǫ 'to count, read'
Catalan
/ʎəˈʒi/
inherited
English
/ɹid/
native English · Old English rǣdan
The Latin ancestor
LEGERE‘to gather, pick out; to read’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
To read was to gather: LEGERE first meant picking up, then picking out letters. Italian keeps the g; Spanish lost it (leer) and French shrank the word to lire.
English relatives: lecture, legible, lectern, legend
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLeo antes de dormir.
- frJe lis avant de dormir.
- itLeggo prima di dormire.
- ptLeio antes de dormir.
- roCitesc înainte de culcare.
- caLlegeixo abans d'anar a dormir.
- enI read before going to sleep.
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