Catalan and Romanian: Exploring Linguistic Similarities and Differences
Catalan and Romanian, both Romance languages, share some vocabulary, such as 'cap' [kap] (head), 'nas' [nas] (nose), 'lluna' [ʎunə] (moon), and 'pluja' [pɫuʒə] (rain). However, their mutual intelligibility is limited. According to José Enrique Gargallo, a professor of Romance philology at the University of Barcelona, superficial similarities can be misleading.
While there's an intuitive sense that all Romance languages resemble each other, the similarities between Romanian and Catalan are often exaggerated. Italian is closer to both Catalan and Spanish. Italian is more easily understood by speakers of other Romance languages because it has conserved Latin roots like 'casa' [ˈkaːsa] (house), 'bello' [ˈbɛllo] (beautiful), 'terra' [ˈtɛrra] (earth), and 'mare' [ˈmaːre] (sea).
Romanian, surrounded by languages from other families (Germanic, Slavic, Turkic, Neo-Greek, Hungarian), has unique characteristics. For instance, the numbers 1-10 in Romanian – 'unu' [ˈunu], 'doi' [doj], 'trei' [trej], 'patru' [ˈpatru], 'cinci' [t͡ʃint͡ʃʲ], 'șase' [ˈʃase], 'șapte' [ˈʃapte], 'opt' [opt], 'nouă' [ˈnowə], 'zece' [ˈzet͡ʃe] – have a familiar sound to Catalan speakers. However, numbers like eleven ('unsprezece' [ˌunspreˈzet͡ʃe]) are unrecognizable due to Slavic influence in their structure.
Romanian's isolation has preserved archaic forms, such as 'frumos' [fruˈmos] for 'bonic' (beautiful). Reading Romanian can feel like reading a form of Latin. The word for 'món' (world) is 'lume' [ˈlume], while in other Romance languages, the root relates to 'llum' (light).
While some sources claim a high lexical similarity between Romanian and Catalan, Professor Gargallo considers this "desmesurat" (excessive) in practical terms. These shared words often have the same etymological root. Examples include 'ou' [ɔw] (egg), 'cap' [kap] (head), 'nas' [nas] (nose), and 'foc' [fɔk] (fire).
Other words have a resemblance due to their pan-Romance origin, such as 'pâine' [ˈpɨjne] (bread), 'câine' [ˈkɨine] (dog), 'mare' [ˈmare] (sea), and 'unghie' [ˈuŋɡʲie] (nail). A significant portion of Romanian vocabulary comes from non-Latin sources. Ultimately, understanding Romanian requires context and familiarity, especially for those without prior knowledge.