"work" in seven languages
Meaningwork
Spanish
/tɾaˈbaxo/
masc.inherited
Formed from the verb trabajar, Old Spanish for 'to suffer, toil'.
French
/tʁavaj/
masc.inherited
plural: travaux
Italian
/laˈvoro/
masc.other source · Latin LABŌRĀRE 'to toil' (lavoro is formed from lavorare)
Portuguese
/tɾaˈbaʎu/
masc.inherited
Romanian
/ˈmunkə/
fem.other source · Old Church Slavonic mǫka 'torment, toil'
Catalan
/ˈfɛjnə/
fem.other source · Latin FACIENDA 'things to be done'
Catalan also has treball, the inherited cognate, but feina is the everyday word.
English
/wɝk/
native English · Old English weorc
The Latin ancestor
*TRIPALIUM‘a three-staked device (traditionally, of torture); the etymology is debated’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and French work comes, on the most widely accepted (but disputed) account, from a three-pronged instrument of torment: work began as suffering. English travel is the same word — the medieval journey was an ordeal. Italian chose LABOR, the plain Latin 'toil'.
English relatives: travail, travel; labour (from LABŌREM, Italian's source)
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esHoy tengo mucho trabajo.
- frJ'ai beaucoup de travail aujourd'hui.
- itOggi ho molto lavoro.
- ptHoje tenho muito trabalho.
- roAzi am multă muncă.
- caAvui tinc molta feina.
- enI have a lot of work today.