Ancestors

Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-30 at 19:16

Italian 'quello', Portuguese 'aquele', and Spanish 'aquel', all demonstrative adjectives meaning "that", have an interesting origin.

The part '(a)qu-' comes from Popular Latin 'eccum', meaning "look".

This word came to be used as an intensifier of demonstratives: 'eccum ille' ('look, that') became 'quello', 'aquele', and 'aquel'.

Italian even preserves 'eccum' as a standalone word: 'Ecco la ragione!' ("That's the reason!").

Click my new graphic to learn all about Romance demonstratives.

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Written by Damtux (Mastodon) on 2025-01-30 at 19:22

@yvanspijk Hello, I didn't know part of this, as italian (and having studied Latin in high school)! Thank you!

It's always fascinating to discover the origin of our languages!

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Toot

Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-30 at 19:23

@damtux Grazie per il messaggio simpatico! :)

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Descendants

Written by Damtux (Mastodon) on 2025-01-30 at 19:26

@yvanspijk prego :)

e conosci anche l'italiano, ovviamente! :D

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Written by (((Den som ikke vet))) on 2025-01-31 at 10:00

@yvanspijk @damtux After a few seconds, I understood that!

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