# Forward, romance language experts! Etymology of "today" in various languages **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118 "2002-04-28T15:10:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/1 "2002-04-28T15:10:58Z")
I’ve long wondered about the word for _today_ in various languages. Even within the Romance group, they seem so different: _hoy_, _oggi_, and _aujourd’hui_ in Spanish, Italian, and French respectively. IIRC _hodie_ is the Latin word, and it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to suppose that _hoy_ comes from that word. But what about _Oggi_ and especially _aujourd’hui_? And as an aside, did the German word _heute (today)_ also come into the language from Latin, via early Roman-German contact? ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/2 "2002-04-28T15:42:24Z")
The Latin word for _day_ is “dies”, the adjective of which is “diurnus”, _daily_. IIRC this is where French “jour” came from. “Aujourd’hui” is, of course, derived from “jour”. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/3 "2002-04-28T15:52:52Z")
_hoje_ is “today” in Portuguese, and the way it’s pronounced is similar to _oggi_. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/4 "2002-04-28T16:49:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Schnitte \* > \*\*The Latin word for _day_ is “dies”, the adjective of which is “diurnus”, _daily_. IIRC this is where French “jour” came from. “Aujourd’hui” is, of course, derived from “jour”. \*\* I guessed that _aujourd’hui_ was somehow related to _jour_, but whence the _'hui_? I knew that _dies_ is Latin for _day_, but what about _today_, or _this day_? ---
**Author:** ![Dreaming\_of\_Maria\_Callas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@Dreaming\_of\_Maria\_Callas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dreaming_of_Maria_Callas)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/5 "2002-04-28T16:56:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by javaman \* > \*\*I’ve long wondered about the word for _today_ in various languages. Even within the Romance group, they seem so different: _hoy_, _oggi_, and _aujourd’hui_ in Spanish, Italian, and French respectively. IIRC _hodie_ is the Latin word, and it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to suppose that _hoy_ comes from that word. But what about _Oggi_ and especially _aujourd’hui_? > \*\* Latin hodie had a aspiration at the beginning (h), as Vulgar Latin became Italian, aspiration was dropped at the beginning of words (which is why “ho” is pronounced as “o”), while the combination “di” because like English “j.” Thus, “oggi” is in fact descended from “hodie.” UnuMondo ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/6 "2002-04-28T17:26:55Z")
_To-divvus_\* is today in Romani, _divvus_ meaning day. I think the ‘to’ prefix is just loaned from English. \*There are many dialects of Romani, in others the word may differ. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/7 "2002-04-28T17:57:15Z")
I don’t think Romani is a Romance language. It seems pretty clear to me that _'hui_ comes from the same root as _hoy_, though that doesn’t get us any closer to an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/8 "2002-04-28T18:21:19Z")
The OP wondered about the word for today in various languages, I thought they’d like to know another one. You’re kinda correct - Romani isn’t a Romance language as such - it’s mainly derived from Sanskrit. However it’s picked up many loan words from other languages. For example: _kris_ (A court or council, I suppose) has IIRC the same latin root as ‘crisis’ in English. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/9 "2002-04-28T22:03:51Z")
> [@](#): > > It seems pretty clear to me that 'hui comes from the same root as hoy, though that doesn’t get us any closer to an answer. As already pointed out, the “jour” (also “day” in french) comes from the latin “diurnus” (day) and the “hui” part from the latin “hodie” (today). So, litterally, “aujourd’dui= au jour de hui” means “at the day of today”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/10 "2002-04-28T23:05:05Z")
The reason French has such a long word is to avoid confusion. The older word for “today” was indeed “hui” (probably from “hoi”). The problem was that “hui” sounded a lot like “oui” (“yes”). Because of this, the “aujourd’” was added to differentiate. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/11 "2002-04-28T23:11:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clairobscur \* > \*\* > > As already pointed out, the “jour” (also “day” in french) comes from the latin “diurnus” (day) and the “hui” part from the latin “hodie” (today). So, litterally, “aujourd’dui= au jour de hui” means “at the day of today”. \*\* This makes perfect sense, but until today I believed (courtesy of my French teacher) that it was from au jour d’_huit_. Bearing in mind that French people say “huit jours” (8 days) meaning a week - and “quinze jours” (15 days) for two weeks - it was quite plausible that it meant “this day of eight”, i.e. this day of the week. “hodie” just means “this day” in Latin. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/12 "2002-04-29T06:50:23Z")
My dictionnary disagrees with your teacher, hibernicus… By the way, refering to long words, “au jour d’aujourd’hui” is sometimes used in french, with the meaning “nowaday” ---
**Author:** ![Neurodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neurodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurodoc)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/13 "2002-04-29T07:25:51Z")
Combine the demostrative adjective (hic, haec, hoc) with day (dies), and you get to “hodie” and to the other constructions mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/14 "2002-04-29T18:42:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clairobscur \* > \*\*My dictionnary disagrees with your teacher, hibernicus… > By the way, refering to long words, “au jour d’aujourd’hui” is sometimes used in french, with the meaning “nowaday” \*\* Ah, “to the day of to day of today”! Those irrepressible French! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forward-romance-language-experts-etymology-of-today-in-various-languages/106118/15 "2002-04-29T18:45:45Z")
These are great answers, everybody! As I said, I thought that _Hodie_ meant _Today_, and that it was the root of Sp. _Hoy_, but disclaimed it because I did not want to admit that I thought so only because I remember seeing the sign headed “Hodie” in the movie _Gladiator_. Apparently correctly, now that \*\*Neurodoc \*\* has substantiated it, I assumed it was a list of the day’s fights.