Science, ideas & the arts

disaster

A disaster is literally a 'bad star': Italians coined disastro from dis- and astro, blaming calamity on an unfavourable position of the planets. French désastre spread the word to English, German and Romanian.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Italian to Spanish

From Italian to Portuguese

From Italian to Catalan

From Middle French to French, Romanian

From French to German

50 BCELatin

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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