Quilted Languages

frate

brother · Came from Latin

The word frate, meaning brother, is a very clear direct descendent of the word fratus in Latin, the language which formed the base of the Romanian language.

iubire

love · Came from South Slavic

This Romanian word for love has origins in the South Slavic languages, from which Romanian borrowed extensively over the course of centuries of cross-cultural communication and experience.

chiftea

meatball · Came from Ottoman Turkish

This word was borrowed from Ottoman Turkish, which itself borrowed the word from Persian.

oraș

city · Came from Hungarian

Romanians lived, for hundreds of years, at the crossroads of multiple empires.

弟otouto

little brother · Came from Old Japanese

The word for little brother, “Otouto” derives from a combination of two older Japanese words, Oto and hito, meaning a young person.

愛ai

love · Came from Middle Chinese

The word for love most commonly used today in Japan has its origins in medieval China where the Middle Chinese word for love first made its leap onto the Japanese archipelago through the extensive literature of the Chinese intelligentsia and religions, especially Buddhism.

かるたkaruta

a card game · Came from Portuguese

By the 1600s, Japan had started opening up to the world, albeit very slowly, and only to very specific groups, and only in very specific ports.