"to wait" in seven languages
Meaningto wait
Spanish
/espeˈɾaɾ/
inherited
Also 'to hope' and 'to expect' — context decides.
French
/atɑ̃dʁ/
other source · Latin ATTENDERE 'to stretch toward, pay heed'
Italian
/aspetˈtare/
other source · Latin EXSPECTĀRE 'to look out for'
Portuguese
/espeˈɾah/
inherited
Romanian
/aʃtepˈta/
other source · Latin EXSPECTĀRE 'to look out for'
Same source as Italian aspettare, with Romanian -CT- → -pt-.
Catalan
/əspəˈɾa/
inherited
English
/weɪt/
other source · Old North French waitier (Frankish *wahtōn 'to watch')
Watch out: false friends
atender (Spanish) means “to attend to, serve” · attendre (French) means “to wait (for)”
Both from Latin ATTENDERE 'to stretch toward, pay attention'. French went from 'paying attention to' to 'waiting for'; Spanish kept the attention.
The Latin ancestor
SPĒRĀRE‘to hope’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Three ways to wait: Spanish hopes, French attends, Italian looks out. False friend: French attendre is 'to wait', not 'to attend'.
English relatives: despair, desperate (SPĒRĀRE); attend (ATTENDERE); expect (EXSPECTĀRE)
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¡Espérame!
- frAttends-moi !
- itAspettami!
- ptMe espera!
- roAșteaptă-mă!
- caEspera'm!
- enWait for me!