Lexical similarities between French-Spanish-Italian

Eric   Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:43 pm GMT
*a lot of latin vocabulary
Guest   Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:57 am GMT
"There is nothing Germanic about French grammar and vocabulary. French is absolutely nothing like English. The only thing they have in common is a lot of vocabulary that is not pronounced the same way at all. "


A lot of vocabulary ? I don't think that less than 20% is "a lot"...

in your sentense only 6 words are similar to french words... on a total of 33 words. about 18%... and we are using more "technical words" than in a current english sentence. The average of common words between an english and french text is around 10-15%.

When we take in account the those little 15% of common vocabulary is generally heavily germanized in its pronouciation, it is really hard to see any connection between both languages.

Said that German, Dutch an other germanic languages also have some vocabulary of latin origin. English has no specificity on that point at all.
Eric   Thu Mar 29, 2007 12:36 pm GMT
<<A lot of vocabulary ? I don't think that less than 20% is "a lot"...>>

28.3% of English words stem from French according to Wikipedia. And another 28.24% they got from Latin.

Not a lot of French words in my English, eh? Well I guess that means my English is getting closer to that of natives. Good for me! :-)
Guest   Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:40 pm GMT
"28.3% of English words stem from French according to Wikipedia. And another 28.24% they got from Latin. "


that is the number of words of French or/and latin origin in the total number of words. that doesn't take in acount that the huge majority of them are not/or rarely used. the core vocabulary of English has not more than 10-15% of words with French/latin origins, depending of what is seen as "the core vocabulary".

In a current english usual speech, the proportion of them would be even lower.
Observant   Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:50 am GMT
Here's another list that shows the closeness of Spanish and Italian:

bandera/bandiera vs drapeau
belleza/belleza vs beauté
con vs avec
denero/danaro,denaro vs pognon
lata/latta vs bidon
oficina/uffizio vs bureau
rama/ramo vs branche
regalo vs cadeau
sabado/sabato vs samedi
tia/zia vs tante
tio/zio vs oncle
Clovis   Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:11 am GMT
Yes you're right, Spanish and Italian are really close....but why are you trying to show that Spanish and Italian are different than French ? There are many words which are common in Spanish and Italian; but others between French and Italian or between Spanish and French...I don't know why it's so important for you...

PS : money='dinero' in Spanish (and not 'denero') and 'pognon' is vulgar in French, 'argent' is better.
And rama/ramo vs branche -----> 'rameau' is used in french like 'branche'

;-)
Guest   Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:20 am GMT
<<bandera/bandiera vs drapeau
belleza/belleza vs beauté
con vs avec
denero/danaro,denaro vs pognon
lata/latta vs bidon
oficina/uffizio vs bureau
rama/ramo vs branche
regalo vs cadeau
sabado/sabato vs samedi
tia/zia vs tante
tio/zio vs oncle >>

The french evolved fastly than other latin language.
All these words exist.

bandera/bandiera : banderole, bandière, bannière
belleza/corect. bellezza vs Beauté
BUT
belle fille/ bella ragazza vs chica hermosa (Beautiful girl)
con vs comme (not the same signification, but the same origin)
denero/danaro,denaro vs Denier (Old french)
lata/latta vs latrine (toilet containers)
oficina/uffizio vs office
rama/ramo vs rameau, ramée, ramification, ramille, ramure
regalo vs (the verb) régaler, (Middle age) "Je régale" I give, I nourish.
sabado/sabato vs samedi yes, but i can give other example:
Lundi (FR) / Lunedi (It) vs Lunes (Sp)
Mardi / Martedi vs Martes ect...
tia/zia vs tante or tata (fam. or vulgar)
tio/zio vs oncle or tonton (fam. or vulgar)

Obsevant, j'attend avec impatience la suite de tes comparaisons!


<<28.3% of English words stem from French according to Wikipedia. And another 28.24% they got from Latin. "


that is the number of words of French or/and latin origin in the total number of words. that doesn't take in acount that the huge majority of them are not/or rarely used. the core vocabulary of English has not more than 10-15% of words with French/latin origins, depending of what is seen as "the core vocabulary".

In a current english usual speech, the proportion of them would be even lower. >>



precise proportions:

Langue d'oïl, including French and Old Norman: 28.3%
Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
Other Germanic languages (including words directly inherited from Old English): 25%
Greek: 5.32%
No etymology given: 4.03%
Derived from proper names: 3.28%
All other languages contributed less than 1%

A survey by Joseph M. Williams in Origins of the English Language of 10,000 words taken from several thousand business letters[34] gave this set of statistics:

French (langue d'oïl), 41%
"Native" English, 33%
Latin, 15%
Danish, 2%
Dutch, 1%
Other, 10%
Other estimates have also been made:

French, 40%[35]
Greek, 13%[36]
Anglo-Saxon (Old English), 10%[37]
Danish, 2%[38]
Dutch, 1%[39]
And, as about 50% of English is derived from Latin--directly or otherwise--[40] another 10 to 15% can be attributed to direct borrowings from that language.
However, 83% of the 1,000 most-common English words are Anglo-Saxon in origin.
Observant   Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:10 pm GMT
I didn't say that
French is different from both Spanish and Italian. All I wanted to point out that the two are closer to each other than to French.

Sure, the 3 are closely related and similar but among the three French is the one that differs most.
Observant   Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:17 pm GMT
<<bandera/bandiera : banderole, bandière, bannière >>
I'm talking about the flag(noun)

<<belleza/corect. bellezza vs Beauté
BUT
belle fille/ bella ragazza vs chica hermosa (Beautiful girl)>>
Beauty not verb. Bellachica is also common

<<con vs comme (not the same signification, but the same origin) >>
"With"; Comme is como/come(as,like).

<<denero/danaro,denaro vs Denier (Old french)>>
Both dinero and danaro are notarchaic.

<<lata/latta vs latrine (toilet containers) >>
Tin/can both generic as opposed to latrine which is specified.

<<oficina/uffizio vs office >>
But bureau imore commony used than office.

<<rama/ramo vs rameau, ramée, ramification, ramille, ramure >>
Branche is more common.
<<regalo vs (the verb) régaler, (Middle age) "Je régale" I give, I nourish. >>
Regalo is gift noun while regaler is verb.

<<sabado/sabato vs samedi yes, but i can give other example:
Lundi (FR) / Lunedi (It) vs Lunes (Sp)
Mardi / Martedi vs Martes ect...>>
So what Lunes and Lunedi are also cognate.

<<tia/zia vs tante or tata (fam. or vulgar) tio/zio vs oncle or tonton (fam. or vulgar) >>
The Spanishand Italian form are not vulgar. The counterparts you posted is standard French. Tante and Oncle is geerally acepted.

Oh please stop posting unfamiliar, vulgar, colloquial, and slang French words here. If I posted a noun word then furnish me with its cogante noun word too, it is verb then verb too. OK!
Observant   Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:19 pm GMT
CORRECTION:

<<tia/zia vs tante or tata (fam. or vulgar) tio/zio vs oncle or tonton (fam. or vulgar) >>
The Spanish and Italian form are not vulgar. The counterparts you posted is not standard French. Tante and Oncle is geerally acepted.
Clovis   Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:19 pm GMT
Italian-French : 89% of similarities
Italian-Spanish : 82%

You never change that ;-)
Eric   Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:18 pm GMT
Guest: <<that is the number of words of French or/and latin origin in the total number of words. that doesn't take in acount that the huge majority of them are not/or rarely used. the core vocabulary of English has not more than 10-15% of words with French/latin origins, depending of what is seen as "the core vocabulary".>>

You're right. All the more reason not to overate the only thing English and French share in common. They are not in the same language familly at all.
Guest   Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:28 pm GMT
"French is different from both Spanish and Italian. All I wanted to point out that the two are closer to each other than to French. "


That is not what linguists think, and most native romance people who know those three language doesn't either.
As Clovis pointed, you couldn't change the fact that French and Italian share 89% of common vocabular similarity while Spanish and Italian "only" 82. But yes, 82% is important and make them close language to each other, but not more than with French. you should let your misconception on one side and start to learn seriously those languages.




" Sure, the 3 are closely related and similar but among the three French is the one that differs most. "

Which differ the most from what ?? which one is the reference ?




Once again your exemple are not convincing at all and just show to us your lack of knowledge of French.

"<<bandera/bandiera : banderole, bandière, bannière >>
I'm talking about the flag(noun) "

Yes, Bannière IS a french word for "flag", as much as "drapeau".



" <<belleza/corect. bellezza vs Beauté
BUT
belle fille/ bella ragazza vs chica hermosa (Beautiful girl)>>
Beauty not verb. Bellachica is also common "

Belle/bella... I don't see it that much different. Spanish on its side use much more other different forms such as guapa, Hermosa, linda, ect...



<<con vs comme (not the same signification, but the same origin) >>
"With"; Comme is como/come(as,like).

yes, but the radical "con" is found in endless french words which mean "with-..." : compatriote, compagne, colocataire, etc...



"<<oficina/uffizio vs office >>
But bureau imore commony used than office."
It depends, in some cases it is more usual, such as "office du tourisme", and less usually "bureau du tourisme"



"<<sabado/sabato vs samedi yes, but i can give other example:
Lundi (FR) / Lunedi (It) vs Lunes (Sp)
Mardi / Martedi vs Martes ect...>>
So what Lunes and Lunedi are also cognate. "

Lundi/Lunedi/lunes, mardi/martedi/martes, mercredi/mercoledi/miercoles, jeudi/giovedi/jueves, vendredi/veneredi/viernes... all the Spanish forms differ more to italian than the french ones.


"<<tia/zia vs tante or tata (fam. or vulgar) tio/zio vs oncle or tonton (fam. or vulgar) >>
The Spanishand Italian form are not vulgar. The counterparts you posted is standard French. Tante and Oncle is geerally acepted. "

In oral speech the first ones are as much used.



for your next tentative to find "proofs" of the greater proximity of Spanish with Italian you could look to Very usual words...
Guest   Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:03 pm GMT
ma cu si ni futti!!!!
Guest   Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:21 pm GMT
First of all, 'danaro' in Itaian is not common, 'soldi' is. And the French days of the week are closer with Spanish.

Secondly, Clovis is right when he asked, "why is it so imporant to you?" that Spanish and italian be closer than French and Spanish. I'll tell you why. Because whoever is trying to imply this is 1. insecure 2. has an inferiority complex of some sort 3. is obsessed 4. is experiencing the first signs of mental breakdown.

Whoever came up with this list appears to take some sort of twisted pride in the closeness of the italian and spanish words. But so what??? Thge Portugues words are even closer than the Italian ones. What does that prove?