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.
1/
=> More informations about this toot | View the thread | More toots from yvanspijk@toot.community
text/geminiThis content has been proxied by September (3851b).