Catalan words from Latin
214 Catalan words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
ahir
It is formed from Old Catalan a- + hir (“yesterday”), with the a- that also appears in avui, així, ací, allí and aviat. Coromines sees in it the emphasis speakers give to words of time and place…
aigua
It is inherited from Old Catalan aygua, the usual spelling of the medieval texts, which is inherited from Latin aqua (“water”). The same Latin word is Occitan aiga, Spanish agua, French eau, Italian…
així
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum sīc, a compound of the demonstrative particle eccum (“here he is”) and sīc (“thus”). The DCVB writes the Vulgar Latin form ⟨*accu sīc⟩, with the variant of…
ajudar
It is inherited from Latin adiūtō (“to help”), a frequentative of adiuvō (“to help”), which is formed from iuvō (“to help”). The same Latin verb is Occitan ajudar, Spanish ayudar, Portuguese ajudar…
alt
It is inherited from Latin altus (“high”). The Latin adjective is formally the past participle of alō (“to nourish”), from Proto-Italic *altos; Wiktionary takes it to *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”)…
altre
It is inherited from Latin alter (“the other (of two)”). In Vulgar Latin it replaced alius (“other (of many)”), and in this sense it passed into all the Romance languages. The same Latin word is…
amonestar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *admonestāre, which comes indirectly from admoneō (“to remind, warn”), itself formed from ad- and moneō (“to warn, advise”). The verb is unknown in Latin but common…
amor
It is inherited from Latin amor (“love”). The Latin noun is formed from amō (“to love”) with the suffix -or. The same Latin word is Italian amore, French amour, Occitan amor, Spanish amor and…
ample
It is inherited from Latin amplus (“wide, large”). The same Latin word is Italian ampio, French ample, Occitan ample, Spanish ancho and Portuguese ancho. The origin of the Latin adjective is…
anell
It is inherited from Latin ānellus (“little ring”). DECat, Bruguera and the GDLC take the Latin word as a diminutive of ānulus (“ring”); Wiktionary and the OLD derive it directly from ānus (“ring”)…
any
It is inherited from Latin annus (“year”). The medieval texts write it an and ayn beside the modern spelling. The same Latin word is Spanish año, Portuguese ano, Italian anno, French an, Occitan an…
aquest
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum iste, formed from eccum (“look, here he is”) and the demonstrative iste (“that (near you)”). The combination first served as an emphatic form of the simple…
arbre
It is inherited from Latin arbor (“tree”). The Latin noun was feminine; Catalan made it masculine. The same Latin word is Occitan arbre, Spanish árbol, Portuguese árvore, Italian albero and Romanian…
arma
It is inherited from Late Latin arma (“weapon”), a feminine singular made from the classical neuter plural arma (“arms, weapons”), genitive ⟨armorum⟩. Corominas finds the Latin word used as a…
arribar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *arrīpō (“to come to the shore”), formed on Latin rīpa (“bank, shore”). Wiktionary gives the Early Medieval Latin form as adrīpō, which Niermeyer glosses “to land”…
baix
It is inherited from Late Latin bassus (“short, stout; low”). The Latin word first gave Old Catalan bas, as in Italian basso, French bas and Occitan bas; Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC hold that…
barba
It is inherited from Latin barba (“beard”). The same Latin word is Occitan barba, Spanish barba, Portuguese barba, Italian barba and French barbe. The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *farðā and…
batre
It is inherited from Latin battō (“to beat”), the later form of battuō. The same Latin verb is Occitan batre, French battre, Italian battere, Spanish batir, Portuguese bater and Romanian bate…
bell
It is inherited from Latin bellus (“pretty, fine”). The same Latin word is Italian bello, French beau and Occitan bèl. The REW takes Spanish bello and Portuguese belo to be borrowings from Italian…
boca
It is inherited from Latin bucca (“cheek; mouth”). In the Latin of the classical writers the word meant the cheek, then a puffed-out mouth full of air or food; in spoken Latin it gradually replaced…
bord
1. The word for a bastard is inherited from Vulgar Latin burdus (“mule; hybrid of a horse and a she-ass”), a word already used in antiquity but kept out of the correct language. Its origin is…
bou
1. The word for the ox is inherited from Latin bōs (“bovine animal, ox, bull, cow”), through the stem ⟨bov-⟩ of its other cases: Vulgar Latin soon gave up the nominative ⟨bos⟩ and used ⟨bovis⟩ even…
brollar
It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *broglāre, as is Old Occitan brolhar “to sprout”; both verbs are probably derived from the noun seen in bruelh (“thicket”) and Old Catalan ⟨brull⟩, from…
cabra
It is inherited from Latin capra (“she-goat”), the feminine of caper (“he-goat”). The same Latin word is Occitan cabra, Spanish cabra, Portuguese cabra, French chèvre, Italian capra and Romanian…
caçar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *captiō (“to try to catch”), which Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC cite by its infinitive and derive from captus (“caught”), the past participle of capiō (“to…
call
1. The word for the callus is inherited from Latin callum (“hard skin, callus”). The same Latin word is Spanish callo, Portuguese calo and Italian callo; French cal is a learned remaking of Old…
camp
It is inherited from Latin campus (“flat land, plain; field”). The same Latin word is Occitan camp, French champ, Spanish campo, Italian campo and Romanian câmp. In Latin the piece of tilled land…
cantar
It is inherited from Latin cantō (“to sing”), the frequentative of canō (“to sing”). In classical Latin the frequentative meant "to sing often, habitually", and sometimes was already close to the…
cap
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin capus (“head, chief”), a remodelling of classical caput (“head”). Being neuter, the Latin word had an accusative identical to the nominative, but its Romance forms…
car
1. The word for “dear, expensive” is inherited from Latin cārus (“dear, precious, esteemed”). The same Latin word is Occitan car, Spanish caro, Portuguese caro, Italian caro and French cher. The…
carn
It is inherited from Latin carō (“flesh, meat”), genitive ⟨carnis⟩; Wiktionary and the DCVB name the oblique form ⟨carnem⟩, ⟨carne⟩ as the one continued. The same Latin word is Occitan carn, Spanish…
carregar
It is inherited from Late Latin carricō (“to load a cart”), formed on Latin carrus (“wagon”). The Late Latin verb is first attested in the Lex Salica; Corominas finds it in the Visigothic laws and…
carrera
It is inherited from Late Latin carrāria (“road for carts”), short for ⟨via carraria⟩ “cart road”. Coromines explains it as the adjective carrārius (“of carts”) made a noun in that phrase, and…
cavall
It is inherited from Latin caballus (“nag, work horse”), a word that sometimes meant a worn-out or working horse and sometimes a gelding, and that began in Vulgar Latin to be used for any horse…
cel
It is inherited from Latin caelum (“sky, heaven”). The same Latin word is Occitan cèl, French ciel, Italian cielo, Spanish cielo, Portuguese céu and Romanian cer. The Latin word continues…
celler
It is inherited from Latin cellārium (“storeroom, larder”), formed from cella (“storeroom, chamber”) with the suffix of place -ārium. The same Latin word is French cellier, Old Occitan celier…
cercle
It is inherited from Old Catalan cercle, which is inherited from Latin circulus (“circle; hoop”). The Latin word is a diminutive of circus (“circle”), formed with the suffix -ulus. The same Latin…
cinc
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin cinque (“five”), the Vulgar Latin form of classical quīnque. The first /kʷ/ became /k/ by dissimilation from the second, and ⟨cinque⟩ is already frequent in…
ciutat
It is inherited from Old Catalan ciutat, which is inherited from Latin cīvitās (“the citizens of a state or city; citizenship”), a derivative of cīvis (“citizen”). The same Latin word is Old Occitan…
clar
It is inherited from Latin clārus (“bright, clear”). The same Latin word is Old Occitan clar, French clair, Italian chiaro and Spanish claro. The Latin adjective meant “loud, sonorous” before…
clau
1. The word for the key is inherited from Latin clāvis (“key, bar, bolt”). The same Latin word is Occitan clau, Spanish llave, Portuguese chave, French clef, Italian chiave and Romanian cheie. The…
cobrir
It is inherited from Latin cooperiō (“to cover completely”), a compound of operiō (“to shut, cover”). The same Latin verb is Occitan cobrir, Spanish cubrir, French couvrir, Italian coprire…
coll
1. The word for the neck is inherited from Latin collum (“neck”). The same Latin word is Italian collo, French cou, Occitan còl, Spanish cuello and Portuguese colo. The origin of the Latin word is…
collir
It is inherited from Latin colligō (“to gather together, collect”), infinitive ⟨colligere⟩. The Latin verb is formed with con- and legō (“to gather, pick; to read”). The same Latin verb is Occitan…
complir
It is inherited from Latin compleō (“to fill up, to complete”), which Wiktionary takes through a Vulgar Latin form of the fourth conjugation, *complīre. Wiktionary calls the past participle in -ert…
conèixer
It is inherited from Old Catalan conóixer, which is inherited from Late Latin conōscō (“to know”), a reduced form of cognōscō (“to get to know”). The classical verb is formed from con- and the…
conill
It is inherited from Latin cunīculus (“rabbit; burrow, underground passage”). The same Latin word is Occitan conilh, Old French conil, Italian coniglio, Spanish conejo and Portuguese coelho…
convenir
It is inherited from Latin conveniō (“to come together; to agree; to suit”). In the archaic period the reduced variant Old Catalan covenir predominated. Bruguera classes the verb among the learned…
corda
It is inherited from Latin chorda (“string of a musical instrument; rope”), which Latin had taken from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “guts; string of gut”). In Greek the word meant guts and tripe…
cos
It is inherited from Old Catalan cors, the form of the medieval texts, which is inherited from Latin corpus (“body”). The same Latin word is Old Occitan cors, French corps, Spanish cuerpo, Italian…
cosí
It is inherited from Latin cōnsobrīnus (“cousin, child of a mother's sister”), altered in a way that is not fully explained. Coromines thinks the phrase ⟨consobrinus primus⟩ “first cousin” was…
cosir
It is inherited from Latin cōnsuō (“to sew together”), infinitive ⟨cōnsuere⟩, with a change to the conjugation in ⟨-ir⟩. Wiktionary sets up an intermediate *cosiō. The Latin verb is formed with con-…
costa
1. The word for the coast, the slope and the rib is inherited from Latin costa (“rib; side”), a word that in the Romance languages came to be applied above all to the sides and slopes of mountains…
cridar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *crītō (“to cry out”), a verb not recorded in writing. The DCVB holds the Vulgar Latin form to be certain, since the Romance verbs presuppose it. The same verb is…
cul
It is inherited from Latin cūlus (“backside, anus”). The same Latin word is French cul, Italian culo, Spanish culo, Portuguese cu and Romanian cur. De Vaan derives the Latin word from Proto-Italic…
curt
It is inherited from Latin curtus (“docked, cut short; incomplete”). The same Latin word is French court, Occitan cort, Italian corto, Spanish corto and Portuguese curto; Romanian scurt owes its s-…
demanar
It is inherited from Latin demandō (“to entrust, commit; to demand”). Bruguera treats it in the article on manar, of the same Latin family. The same Latin verb is French demander, Italian domandare…
desembre
It is inherited from Old Catalan dehembre, inherited from Latin December (“the tenth month”). The month was named from decem (“ten”) because it was the tenth month of the early Roman year, which…
despullar
It is inherited from Latin dēspoliō (“to plunder, rob; to strip”), a derivative of spoliō of the same meaning, which comes from spolium (“skin of an animal; booty, spoils”). The REW glosses the…
deu
1. The word for the number ten is inherited from Latin decem (“ten”). The same Latin word is Old Occitan detz, French dix, Spanish diez, Italian dieci and Romanian zece. The Latin numeral goes back…