"to see" in seven languages
Meaningto see
Spanish
/beɾ/
inherited
Old Spanish veer, contracted.
French
/vwaʁ/
inherited
Italian
/veˈdere/
inherited
Portuguese
/veh/
inherited
Romanian
/veˈde̯a/
inherited
Catalan
/ˈbɛwɾə/
inherited
English
/si/
native English · Old English sēon
Native 'wit' and 'wise' are the distant cognates of VIDĒRE (PIE *weyd-).
The Latin ancestor
VIDĒRE‘to see’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Italian keeps the whole Latin word; Spanish and French lost the d between vowels and squeezed it to one syllable. Spanish ver is pronounced with a b, since b and v merged.
English relatives: video, vision, evident, provide, view (via French)
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esNo veo nada.
- frJe ne vois rien.
- itNon vedo niente.
- ptNão estou vendo nada.
- roNu văd nimic.
- caNo hi veig res.
- enI can't see anything.
The Latin family
VID-, VĪS-· see
VIDĒRE lost its middle in Spanish (Old Spanish veer → ver) and French (voir) but kept it in Italian vedere. The sisters built new spoken participles — *VĪSTA behind vista, *VIDŪTA behind French vue — while classical VĪSUM fed the learned words. Catalan veure turned the d into u; Romanian vedea kept it, like Italian.
VIDĒREto see
esverfrvoiritvedereptverrovedeacaveure
*VĪSTAMsight (spoken-Latin participle)
esvistafrvueitvistaptvistacavistaenvista
VĪSIŌNEMsight, vision
esvisiónfrvisionitvisioneptvisãoroviziunecavisióenvision
VĪSITĀREto go to see
esvisitarfrvisiteritvisitareptvisitarrovizitacavisitarenvisit
PROVIDĒREto foresee, provide for
esproveerfrpourvoiritprovvedereptprovercaproveirenprovide
ĒVIDENTEMplain to see
esevidentefrévidentitevidenteptevidenteroevidentcaevidentenevident