# Quotidian and other words. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001 "2011-10-18T03:25:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001/1 "2011-10-18T03:25:56Z")
I’m a big fan of quotidian. I think it’s a great word for the concept and I like to use it when I’m bored with run-of-the-mill and mundane. But I have noticed that it is not a popular english word by any means. I’ve only once heard it spoken in real life by someone other than me and I’ve encountered it very rarely in print. But I have seen the word cotidiano many many times in spanish texts I’ve read. I remember, too the first time i saw it and was taken aback at how clearly it was a cognate for the english word. Perhaps I have just been reading all the wrong things but I am under the impression that it is a much more prevalent vocabulary word in Spanish than in English and my question to you is do you know of any other words that are quite clearly cognates in two languages and the one language uses it a heck of a lot more than the other language? ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001/2 "2011-10-18T13:48:38Z")
Well it’s straight from the Latin word _quotidie_ meaning “every day” (as an adverb), which led to the adjective form _quotidianus_. In English we commonly use the Germanic derived words “everyday” or “daily” - the Latin derived cognate, as so often is the case, is reserved for the overeducated when they wish to affect a snooty overtone for erudition or irony. 😉 I do think of the word a lot though because of the chain of bread bakeries in NYC called _Le Pain Quotidien_, making fresh French loaves and other breads every day and selling it along with good cheeses, etc., with in-store dining on large communal wooden tables. So to address your OP, think of other English words where there’s a simple Germanic word and a longer Latinate equivalent. alacrity = speed, haste domicile = house fraternal = brotherly lacrimose, lacrimation = tearful, welling up with tears incivility = rudeness And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001/3 "2011-10-18T14:23:32Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I’m a big fan of quotidian. I think it’s a great word for the concept and I like to use it when I’m bored with run-of-the-mill and mundane. But I have noticed that it is not a popular english word by any means. I’ve only once heard it spoken in real life by someone other than me and I’ve encountered it very rarely in print. But I have seen the word cotidiano many many times in spanish texts I’ve read. I remember, too the first time i saw it and was taken aback at how clearly it was a cognate for the english word. Perhaps I have just been reading all the wrong things but I am under the impression that it is a much more prevalent vocabulary word in Spanish than in English and my question to you is do you know of any other words that are quite clearly cognates in two languages and the one language uses it a heck of a lot more than the other language? Actually I believe “quotidien” in English is a borrowing from French (we borrowed the pronunciation and the spelling anyway). While not unknown, as in the Belgian bakery chain _Pain Quotidien_ (“Daily Bread”), as an English word it’s fairly uncommon and highbrow, probably because English has a wealth of words that mean the exact same thing and aren’t perceived as Frenchified. Daily Everyday Ordinary Work-a-day ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001/4 "2011-10-18T14:32:01Z")
I find it a quite banal word myself. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001/5 "2011-10-18T16:21:35Z")
Well… I don’t know how _de rigueur_ it is, but my Spanish-speaking girlfriend usually referred to her period as her _menstruación_, whereas in English the word “menstruation” is normally reserved for a more clinical setting. **Robardin** ’s post summed it up nicely though. You’ll see this happening pretty frequently in Spanish (as well as the other Romance languages) because most Spanish words are derived from Latin. Whereas in English the shorter, more common words are Germanic and the longer, fancier words are usually Latin or Greek in origin. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001/6 "2011-10-18T23:38:52Z")
Thanks Rigamarole. I am aware of English’s heritage as a germanic language with latinization. What I’m looking for is cases where the latin english word is not very common but in another language the equivalent is used a lot. English doesn’t have to be one of the languages either. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001/7 "2011-10-19T11:17:40Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Well… I don’t know how _de rigueur_ it is, but my Spanish-speaking girlfriend usually referred to her period as her _menstruación_, whereas in English the word “menstruation” is normally reserved for a more clinical setting. > > **Robardin** ’s post summed it up nicely though. You’ll see this happening pretty frequently in Spanish (as well as the other Romance languages) because most Spanish words are derived from Latin. Whereas in English the shorter, more common words are Germanic and the longer, fancier words are usually Latin or Greek in origin. It’s still very clinical in Spanish, although somewhat more common in Latin America than in Spain; it’s one of those words which people use when they want to make sure they’re not using slang or a dialectal variation, as either slang or dialectal words are more easily misunderstood. Many words which sound obsolete or overwrought to a Spaniard are everyday use in (parts of) Latin America, many which sound obsolete or overwrought to someone from “big cities” are everyday use in “the provinces”. And while both _diario_ and _cotidiano_ are perfectly cromulent Spanish, _diario_ is a lot more common. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotidian-and-other-words/600001/8 "2011-10-20T18:50:03Z")
While translating family Birth/Marriage records from 18th Century Quebec, I was confused at how many people had the occupation of ‘Journaliste’ until I found that it meant ‘Day-Laborer’.