"to sing" in seven languages
Meaningto sing
Spanish
/kanˈtaɾ/
inherited
French
/ʃɑ̃te/
inherited
Italian
/kanˈtare/
inherited
Portuguese
/kɐ̃ˈtah/
inherited
Romanian
/kɨnˈta/
inherited
Catalan
/kənˈta/
inherited
English
/sɪŋ/
native English · Old English singan
The Latin ancestor
CANTĀRE‘to sing (frequentative of CANERE)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian keep the Latin word nearly intact; French turned CA- into cha- and -ĀRE into -er. English has both: chant (from French) and canto (from Italian).
English relatives: chant, enchant, cantata, canto, incantation
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esCanta muy bien.
- frElle chante très bien.
- itCanta benissimo.
- ptEla canta muito bem.
- roCântă foarte frumos.
- caCanta molt bé.
- enShe sings very well.
The Latin family
CAN-, CANT-· sing
CANERE 'to sing' was replaced in speech by its frequentative CANTĀRE, which survives everywhere. French palatalized CA- to cha- (chanter, chanson, enchanter), and English borrowed those French shapes; Spanish and Italian kept the hard c. Portuguese and Catalan kept the hard c too; Romanian cânta raised the a before n to â.
CANTĀREto sing
escantarfrchanteritcantareptcantarrocântacacantarenchant
CANTIŌNEMsong
escanciónfrchansonitcanzoneptcançãocacançó
CANTUMa song, singing
escantofrchantitcantoptcantorocântcacantencanto
INCANTĀREto sing a spell over
esencantarfrenchanteritincantareptencantarroîncântacaencantarenenchant
ACCENTUMa 'singing to', intonation
esacentofraccentitaccentoptacentoroaccentcaaccentenaccent