Portuguese and English, two languages that may seem worlds apart, have an unexpected connection: Latin.
Portuguese, being a Romance language, descended from Latin, and as a result, a large part of its vocabulary directly originates from Latin words. English, on the other hand, has a more complicated relationship with Latin.
While English is a Germanic language and not directly a descendant of Latin, it does have a rich Latin influence. The reason? The Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century brought many French words into English. And, French being another Romance language with Latin roots, many of those French words that entered the English language come from Latin.
So, while Portuguese has a larger Latin vocabulary than English, both languages have a fair amount of similar vocabulary.
Many Portuguese words ending in “-dade” can trace their origins back to Latin words ending in “-tas”. Interestingly, some of these Latin words have also been adopted into English through French loanwords. The “-tas” ending in Latin changed to “-té” in French, which then evolved to “-ty” in English. As a result, several Portuguese and English words share similar spellings and meanings, as they have been derived from the same Latin root.
For instance, the Portuguese word “liberdade” (meaning “freedom”) comes from the Latin “libertas”, which also gave rise to the French word “liberté” and the English word “liberty”.
Another example is the Portuguese word “cidade” (meaning “city”), which comes from the Latin “civitas”. This Latin term gave rise to the French word “cité” and the English word “city”. Likewise, the Portuguese word “quantidade” (meaning “quantity”) comes from the Latin “quantitas”, which also led to the French word “quantité” and the English word “quantity”.
Below is a table that presents instances of words in Portuguese and English that share similarities and are derived from a Latin term ending in “-tas.”
English | Portuguese | Latin |
---|---|---|
liberty | liberdade | libertas |
simplicity | simplicidade | simplicitas |
quantity | quantidade | quantitas |
quality | qualidade | qualitas |
security | seguridade | securitas |
reality | realidade | realitas |
possibility | possibilidade | possibilitas |
university | universidade | universitas |
celebrity | celebridade | celebritas |
opportunity | oportunidade | opportunitas |
credibility | credibilidade | credibilitas |
community | comunidade | communitas |
difficulty | dificuldade | difficultas |
activity | atividade | activitas |
dignity | dignidade | dignitas |
probability | probabilidade | probabilitas |
variety | variedade | varietas |
utility | utilidade | utilitas |
proximity | proximidade | proximitas |
serenity | serenidade | serenitas |
agility | agilidade | agilitas |
fragility | fragilidade | fragilitas |
morality | moralidade | moralitas |
stability | estabilidade | stabilitas |
vitality | vitalidade | vitalitas |
humanity | humanidade | humanitas |
festivity | festividade | festivitas |
diversity | diversidade | diversitas |
continuity | continuidade | continuitas |
sincerity | sinceridade | sinceritas |
property | propriedade | proprietas |
clarity | claridade | claritas |
immensity | imensidade | immensitas |
sensitivity | sensibilidade | sensibilitas |
familiarity | familiaridade | familiaritas |
hospitality | hospitalidade | hospitalitas |
civility | civilidade | civilitas |
vanity | vaidade | vanitas |
severity | severidade | severitas |
humility | humildade | humilitas |
In addition to changes in endings, some Portuguese and English words that share common origins may have minor spelling differences. For example, double consonants in Latin words often disappear in Portuguese, as seen in terms like “oportunidade” (from “opportunitas”) and “comunidade” (from “communitas”). Conversely, English often preserves double letters from Latin words, as in “opportunity” and “community”.
Additionally, some Portuguese words may change the letter “c” to “g” or drop it altogether, as in “seguridade” (from “securitas”) and “atividade” (from “activitas”). These minor spelling differences reflect the historical evolution and adaptation of these words in each language.
Many Portuguese words that end with “-ção” can trace their origins back to Latin words that ended with “-tio”. Again, some of these Latin words have also entered English as French loanwords. In French, the “-tio” ending changed to “-tion”, which then carried over to English.
For instance, the Portuguese word “ação” (meaning “action”) comes from the Latin “actio”, which also gave rise to the French word “action” and the English word “action”. Similarly, the Portuguese word “nação” (meaning “nation”) comes from the Latin “natio”, which led to the French word “nation” and the English word “nation”.
English | Portuguese | Latin |
---|---|---|
perfection | perfeição | perfectio |
communication | comunicação | communicatio |
condition | condição | conditio |
collection | coleção | collectio |
production | produção | productio |
contemplation | contemplação | contemplatio |
prediction | predição | praedictio |
verification | verificação | verificatio |
accumulation | acumulação | accumulatio |
occupation | ocupação | occupatio |
evolution | evolução | evolutio |
initiation | iniciação | initiatio |
admiration | admiração | admiratio |
justification | justificação | iustificatio |
education | educação | educatio |
introduction | introdução | introductio |
celebration | celebração | celebratio |
option | opção | optio |
explanation | explicação | explicatio |
edition | edição | editio |
description | descrição | descriptio |
satisfaction | satisfação | satisfactio |
navigation | navegação | navigatio |
conjugation | conjugação | coniugatio |
imagination | imaginação | imaginatio |
discretion | discrição | discretio |
competition | competição | competitio |
protection | proteção | protectio |
solution | solução | solutio |
institution | instituição | institutio |
consideration | consideração | consideratio |
translation | translação | translatio |
modification | modificação | modificatio |
interpretation | interpretação | interpretatio |
abbreviation | abreviação | abbreviatio |
generation | geração | generatio |
conservation | conservação | conservatio |
decoration | decoração | decoratio |
information | informação | informatio |
Another group of Portuguese and English words share similarities and can be traced back to Latin terms ending in “-entia” or “-antia”. In Portuguese, these words end in “-ência” or “-ância”, while in English, they end in “-ence” or “-ance”.
This group includes many words that have similar meanings and spellings in both languages. For example, the Portuguese word “ausência” and the English word “absence” both derive from the Latin term “absentia” meaning “lack” or “nonexistence”.
Other examples include the Portuguese “importância” and the English “importance” (from the Latin term “importentia”), the Portuguese “violência” and the English “violence” (from the Latin term “violentia”).
English | Portuguese | Latin |
---|---|---|
occurrence | ocorrência | occurrentia |
prudence | prudência | prudentia |
existence | existência | existentia |
conscience | consciência | conscientia |
arrogance | arrogância | arrogantia |
ignorance | ignorância | ignorantia |
consequence | consequência | consequentia |
sequence | sequência | sequentia |
patience | paciência | patientia |
science | ciência | scientia |
residence | residência | residentia |
intelligence | inteligência | intelligentia |
efficiency | eficiência | efficientia |
surveillance | vigilância | vigilantia |
absence | ausência | absentia |
excellence | excelência | excellentia |
experience | experiência | experientia |
distance | distância | distantia |
convenience | conveniência | convenientia |
appearance | aparência | apparentia |
circumstance | circunstância | circumstantia |
resistance | resistência | resistentia |
Another group of Portuguese and English words sharing similarities can be traced back to Latin adjectives ending in “-abilis”. The Latin suffix “-abilis” gave rise to the Portuguese suffix “-ável” and the English suffix “-able”.
One such example is the Portuguese word “adorável” and its English counterpart “adorable”. Both words have the same root, which is the Latin term “adorabilis” meaning “worthy of praise or adoration”. The Portuguese word “razoável” and the English word “reasonable” also share a similar origin in the Latin term “rationabilis” meaning “rational” or “logical”.
English | Portuguese | Latin |
---|---|---|
comparable | comparável | comparabilis |
reasonable | razoável | rationabilis |
durable | durável | durabilis |
honorable | honorável | honorabilis |
inexorable | inexorável | inexorabilis |
abominable | abominável | abominabilis |
intolerable | intolerável | intolerabilis |
portable | portável | portabilis |
mutable | mutável | mutabilis |
stable | estável | stabilis |
miserable | miserável | miserabilis |
sociable | sociável | sociabilis |
communicable | comunicável | communicabilis |
vulnerable | vulnerável | vulnerabilis |
impenetrable | impenetrável | impenetrabilis |
formidable | formidável | formidabilis |
One can also observe a set of similar words in Portuguese and English that come from Latin adjectives ending in “-icus”. When both languages have derived their vocabulary from one of these Latin words, the Portuguese word usually ends in “-ico”, whereas the English word ends in “-ic”.
For example, the Latin term “historicus” gave rise to “histórico” in Portuguese and “historic” in English. Similarly, the Latin term “biologicus” became “biológico” in Portuguese and “biologic” in English. These similarities in vocabulary can be traced back to the shared Latin roots of the languages.
English | Portuguese | Latin |
---|---|---|
specific | específico | specificus |
authentic | autêntico | authenticus |
aquatic | aquático | aquaticus |
pacific | pacífico | pacificus |
fanatic | fanático | fanaticus |
exotic | exótico | exoticus |
historic | histórico | historicus |
public | público | publicus |
economic | económico | oeconomicus |
problematic | problemático | problematicus |
scientific | científico | scientificus |
scholastic | escolástico | scholasticus |
honorific | honorífico | honorificus |
atlantic | atlântico | atlanticus |
Adverbs are another grammatical category in which there are many similar vocabulary words between Portuguese and English.
Many Portuguese adverbs, particularly those formed from adjectives, end with the suffix “-mente”, while many English adverbs end with the suffix “-ly”.
English | Portuguese |
---|---|
completely | completamente |
totally | totalmente |
recently | recentemente |
certainly | certamente |
probably | provavelmente |
especially | especialmente |
finally | finalmente |
extremely | extremamente |
immediately | imediatamente |
initially | inicialmente |
exactly | exatamente |
generally | geralmente |
absolutely | absolutamente |
sincerely | sinceramente |
properly | propriamente |
directly | directamente |
constantly | constantemente |
basically | basicamente |
partially | parcialmente |
curiously | curiosamente |
correctly | corretamente |
considerably | consideravelmente |
seriously | seriamente |
periodically | periodicamente |
eternally | eternamente |
exceptionally | excepcionalmente |
intensely | intensamente |
doubly | duplamente |
occasionally | ocasionalmente |
accidentally | acidentalmente |
consciously | conscientemente |
collectively | coletivamente |
Despite being two languages from different language families, Portuguese and English share many similarities, including vocabulary derived from Latin roots. Portuguese has a more extensive Latin vocabulary as a Romance language, while English, a Germanic language, has a more complex relationship with Latin. However, English adopted many French words with Latin roots through the Norman Conquest of England. As a result, there are many similar vocabulary words between Portuguese and English..