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"to wake up" in seven languages

Meaningto wake up

Spanish

despertarse

/despeɾˈtaɾse/

other source · Spanish despierto 'awake', from a reshaped Latin EXPERRĒCTUS 'woken'

French

se réveiller

/sə ʁeveje/

inherited

Re- + éveiller; éveiller alone is literary.

Italian

svegliarsi

/zveʎˈʎarsi/

inherited

Portuguese

acordar

/akohˈdah/

other source · Latin *ACCORDĀRE (from COR 'heart'): 'to come to one's senses'

Also 'to agree', a separate sense of the same verb.

Romanian

trezi

/treˈzi/

other source · probably Slavic (cf. Old Church Slavonic trězvŭ 'sober')

Used reflexively: mă trezesc 'I wake up'.

Catalan

despertar-se

/dəspərˈtarsə/

other source · despert 'awake', from a reshaped Latin EXPERRĒCTUS 'woken', like Spanish despertarse

English

wake up

/weɪk ʌp/

Indo-European kin · PIE *weg- 'to be lively'

Wake and Latin VIGIL 'awake' share this root.

English → Italianto wake upsvegliarsiDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: vigil, vigilant, reveille (fr).What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

*EXVIGILĀRE‘to wake up (from VIGIL 'awake')’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

French and Italian 'come out of watchfulness' (*EX-VIGILĀRE): éveiller, svegliare. English reveille, the army wake-up call, is French réveillez.

English relatives: vigil, vigilant, reveille (fr)

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In a sentence

  • esMe despierto a las siete.
  • frJe me réveille à sept heures.
  • itMi sveglio alle sette.
  • ptEu acordo às sete.
  • roMă trezesc la șapte.
  • caEm desperto a les set.
  • enI wake up at seven.

More in Core verbs

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