"which" in seven languages
Meaningwhich
Spanish
cuál
/kwal/
inherited
plural: cuáles
French
quel
/kɛl/
inherited
fem.: quelle
Italian
quale
/ˈkwale/
inherited
Portuguese
qual
/kwaw/
inherited
Romanian
care
/ˈkare/
inherited
Intervocalic -l- became -r-: QUĀLEM → care.
Catalan
quin
/kin/
other source · a Catalan extension of the pronoun qui (formation disputed)
English
which
/wɪtʃ/
Indo-European kin · PIE *kʷo- (question stem)
Built just like QUĀLIS: Old English hwilc is 'what' + 'like'.
English → ItalianwhichqualeDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: quality, qualify.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
QUĀLEM‘of what kind’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
QUĀLIS asked 'of what sort?' — quality is 'what-sort-ness'. French turned the stressed open a into e, as in MARE → mer.
English relatives: quality, qualify
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- es¿Cuál prefieres?
- frTu préfères lequel ?
- itQuale preferisci?
- ptQual você prefere?
- roPe care îl preferi?
- caQuin prefereixes?
- enWhich one do you prefer?