The Portuguese word pranto (favourite among authors of fado lyrics) is cognate with Spanish llanto (often heard in flamenco music), with French plainte and English complaint. I have known that for some years, but yesterday (4 Dec 2002) I suddenly realised that this is strange: Spanish ll usually corresponds to Portuguese ch, and Portuguese pr (as in praia) is usually pl (playa) in Spanish. So why is it different here? Why is the Portuguese word not chanto, or why isn’t it planto in Spanish?
Words with ll in Spanish that have ch in Portuguese quite often start
with cl, pl or fl in Latin (and French).
This
interesting page by
Michael Neuhold
about how Latin developed into other Romance languages
gives some examples of this:
Von
Latein zu den romanischen Sprachen.
(The page is in German, but it is probably easy to understand even if you know no German, provided you have some knowledge of, or better interest in, Romance languages).
Here are some other examples:
| Portuguese | Spanish | Italian | French | Latin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pt | es | it | fr | la |
| chamar | llamar | chiamare | clamer | clamare |
| chave | llave | chiave | clé, clef | clave |
| Chaves | -- | -- | -- | Aqua Flaviae |
| chama | llama | fiamma | flamme | flamma |
| chaga | llaga | piaga | plaie | plaga |
| chover | llover | piovere | pleuvoir | plovĕre < pluĕre |
| chorar | llorar | piangere? | pleurer (plaindre?) | plangere? |
| choupo (metathesis!) | pobo | pioppo (metathesis!) | peuple | poplu, popŭlu |
Of the correspondence pt ‘pr’ vs. es ‘pl’ we can also find many examples. Some have fl in Latin (or in Germanic languages), one had cl in Greek.
| Portuguese | Spanish | Italian | French | Latin | various |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pt | es | it | fr | la | |
| praça | plaza | piazza | place | platĕa | |
| prancha | plancha | ?? | planche | planca | |
| prazer | placer | (dis)piacere | plaisir | placĕre | |
| prata | plata | ?? | ?? | platta | |
| prato | plato | piatto | plat | plattu | Greek πλατύς |
| praga | plaga | piaga | plaie | plaga | |
| branco | blanco | bianco | blanc | -- | Germanic blank |
| flecha & frecha (arrow) |
flecha | freccia | flèche | -- | French flèche < Franconian fleuka |
| fraco | flaco | ?? | ?? | flaccu | |
| flauta & frauta (flute) | flauta | flauto | flûte | -- | Old-French flaute < Middle-Dutch flute < Middle High-German flöute |
| freguês (client, parishioner) | ?? | ?? | ?? | filius ecclesiae | |
| igreja (church) | iglesia | chiesa | église | ecclesĭa | Greek εκκλησία |
| frota (fleet) | flota | flotta | flotte | -- | Scandinavian floti |
| frouxo | flojo, flujo | flusso | flux [fly] | flūxu | See later note. |
With the example of the Latin word plaga it starts getting interesting: it occurs twice, and led to pt chaga (wound) and also to pt praga (curse, calamity). So maybe this is part of the group of words that entered the language twice, in two different periods? Other cases in which this happened:
| Portuguese | Portuguese | Latin | Greek |
|---|---|---|---|
| pt | pt | la | gr |
| madeira (wood) | matéria (matter) | materĭa | |
| mezinha (household medicine) | medicina (medicine) | medicīna | |
| cabedal (capital, leather) | capital (capital) | capitāle | |
| genro | género | genĕru | |
| primeiro (first) | primário (primary) | primarĭu | |
| macho (male animal) | másculo (male) | mascŭlu | |
| contador (counter) | computador (computer) | computāre | |
| olho (eye) | óculos (glasses; Dutch bril) | ocŭlu | |
| raio (ray, beam) | rádio (radio) | radĭu | |
| frágua (forge; intense heat) | fábrica (factory) | fabrĭca | |
| gruta (grotto, cavern) | cripta (crypt, vault) | crypta | κρύπτη |
| segredo (secret - noun) | secreto (secret - adjective) | secrētu | |
| fogo (fire) | focus (focus, focal point) | focus | |
| dedal (thimble) | digital (digital) | digitāle | |
| adega (wine cellar), bodega (tavern) | apoteca | apothēca | ἀποθήκη (modern: αποθήκη) |
| seta (arrow) | sagitário (Sagittarius, bowman, archer) | sagitta | |
| artelho (ankle) | artigo, artículo (article) | articŭlu | |
| tripular (to man, provide with a crew) | interpolar | interpolāre (change) |
I found many of the words that appear in the table above (but not the last five) in section 77 of the book "Basisgrammatica Portugees", which I also mentioned here.
Some Latin words with initial pl produced two Portuguese words, with related meanings; in one case even three:
| Portuguese | Portuguese | Latin | Greek |
|---|---|---|---|
| pt | pt | la | gr |
| chato (flat) | prato (plate) | plattu | πλατύς |
| chata (flatboat) | prata (silver) | platta, plattu | |
| -- | praça (square) | platĕa | πλατεῖα |
| chaço (tool) | -- | platu, platĕu | |
| chaga (wound) | praga (pest) | plaga | |
| cheio (full) | preia-mar (high tide) | plenamare / pleno | |
| chantar (to plant), rechantar (move a plant to a different location),
chanta (twig for planting), chantão |
plantar (to plant), prantar (to plant, to put) |
plantāre | |
| choupa (fish) | garoupa (other fish) | clupĕa | |
| chão | porão ( < Old-Portuguese prão) (English: hold, of a ship or airplane | plānu |
So why Spanish llanto is pranto in Portuguese, not chanto, I still do not know. It could have existed, but doesn't. I found one case of the reverse situation: Portuguese chumbo (lead) is plomo in Spanish, not llumbo or llumo. That is, I don’t find any such word in my small dictionary. Italian regularly has piombo for this. When Google-ing for Spanish llumbo, I found this related link.
Addendum, April 2003: I received a hint, that prumo also exists in Portuguese, it means plumb bob, plummet, lead.
PS. April 2003:
I received a helpful comment from Brazil, that the word
chanto does exist.
It is listed in "Dicionário etimológico Nova Fronteira da língua portuguesa"
by Antônio Geraldo da Cunha.
The word means
lament, wailing, mourning.
It is even in a dictionary I have myself, and already had then:
Michaelis pt-en.
I simply didn’t properly look it up before!
To make up for my stupid oversight, the word is marked obsolete.
PS. November 2007. I happened to find a Latin word – tabula – that led to four different words in Portuguese.
PS2. 1 March 2024. Another one with three:
From Latin fluxu(s): chocho [ˈʃoʃu]; frouxo [ˈfɾo(w)ʃu]; fluxo [ˈfluksu]
My earlier mention of ‘frouxo’ was incomplete.
Copyright © 2002-2011, 2024 by
R. Harmsen.
Latest updates 5 and 10 December 2002, 19 February 2006, 29 November 2007, 1 March 2024.