"wool" in seven languages
Meaningwool
Spanish
lana
/ˈlana/
fem.inherited
French
laine
/lɛn/
fem.inherited
Italian
lana
/ˈlana/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
lã
/lɐ̃/
fem.inherited
Portuguese lost the intervocalic n, leaving a nasal vowel: LĀNAM → lã.
Romanian
lână
/ˈlɨnə/
fem.inherited
Catalan
llana
/ˈʎanə/
fem.inherited
English
wool
/wʊl/
Indo-European kin · PIE *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂
English → ItalianwoollanaDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: lanolin.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
LĀNAM‘wool’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian are identical; French turned stressed free a before n into ai (laine), as in PĀNEM → pain.
English relatives: lanolin
Learn it
In a sentence
- esUn jersey de lana.
- frUn pull en laine.
- itUn maglione di lana.
- ptUm suéter de lã.
- roUn pulover de lână.
- caUn jersei de llana.
- enA wool jumper.