# Romance languages: ceiling / roof



## albondiga

Hi all,

In Spanish, there's no exact word that universally corresponds to the English *roof*, nor to the English *ceiling* (one that is nearly always and only used for the equivalent English word.)  Not "techo" nor "tejado" nor any other... see the responses in this thread, where a native Spanish-speaker had trouble understanding the difference between "roof" and "ceiling"...

I'm wondering about the other Romance languages.  Do any of the cognates of "techo" correspond more precisely to either _one _of "roof" or "ceiling" in English?  What about the cognates of "tejado"?  (I assume "no" for the latter, given that many roofs don't have _tejas_/_telhas_/etc.)

What about other words like _soffitto_, _plafond_, etc.?  Do any of them translate more precisely and universally to either (a) "ceiling" _or _(b) "roof" in English?


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## Outsider

In Portuguese:

_roof:_ telhado
_ceiling:_ te(c)to​Are you sure it isn't the same in Spanish?


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## badgrammar

In French, as in English, it's pretty clear: 

Roof: *Toit/toiture* (meaning the exterior covering of a structure)
Ceiling:  *Plafond* (meaning the interior of the roof - which  may be as simple  as the interior side of the plank of wood that serves as a roof, or whatever material has been added underneath the exterior roof and insulation to create the interior surface that you see inside).

I also find it very odd that in Spanish there would be no equivalent to roof or ceiling!  Are you sure that's right?


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## Woland

Romanian
Roof: = *acoperiş*(akoperish')
Ceiling =* Tavan*


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## brau

Catalan:

Roof: *Terrat* (if you can walk on it, used for hanging out the clothes or just being alfresco). *Teulada* (roof of tiles).
Ceiling: *Sostre*

In Spanish, it has always been clear for me: roof - tejado and ceiling - techo. However, I believe there are some areas where people use "techo" in certain situations where the English word would be "roof". The thing is, there are many kind of roofs, especially in Spain.


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## albondiga

I didn't say there's no equivalent, just that it's not universal or exact in Spanish... again, this might be regional, but: 

*techo *is sometimes used for roof (see, for example, the second reply in the thread I linked to above), even though it's normally used for ceiling.  Then, in places where _techo _is used for roof, other words (like _cieloraso_) get used for ceiling.

*tejado *is not universally used for all roofs; I think that, in some places, it means only a roof of _tejas_, while other types of roofs would have to use different words.  In other places, though, _tejado _does mean all roofs.  Then there are the places _techo _is used for roof. Then, in the referenced thread, one person is of the opinion that _tejado _refers to sloped roofs and _azotea _to flat roofs, plus there's _terraza _too (compare to the Catalan)...  There are _10_ replies, and they can't agree on what _ceiling _and _roof _refer to in Spanish!

So does *telhado *in Portuguese refer to ALL roofs?

Also (and I've noticed this before), it's interesting that *teto *in Portuguese is _ceiling_, while it's cognate *toit *in French is _roof_!  (This does make it less strange for the Spanish *techo *to waver!)


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## jmx

albondiga said:


> *techo *is sometimes used for roof (see, for example, the second reply in the thread I linked to above), even though it's normally used for ceiling.


In my usage, "techo" means 'ceiling', and nothing else. 



albondiga said:


> *tejado *is not universally used for all roofs; I think that, in some places, it means only a roof of _tejas_, while other types of roofs would have to use different words.


We can use "tejado" in a narrower sense, meaning that it has tiles, but we can also use it in a more generic way, and then it's the same as 'roof'.


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## robbie_SWE

Woland said:


> Romanian
> Roof: = *acoperiş*(akoperish')
> Ceiling =* Tavan*


 
Correct, but there is a word that is used instead of *tavan* (from the Turkish _tavan_) and that is *plafon*.

 robbie


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## Outsider

albondiga said:


> So does *telhado *in Portuguese refer to ALL roofs?


What Jmartins wrote just above regarding Spanish applies also to Portuguese. While etymologically a _telhado_ should be composed of tiles, it's common to extend the word's meaning to other kinds of roof coverings.


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## Nizo

Although *Esperanto* is not technically a Romance language, many of its words come from Romance languages.  We use the word *tegmento* for _roof_ and *plafono* for _ceiling_.  

*Tegmento* is derived from the Latin _tegmentum_.  *Plafono *comes from the French word for _ceiling_, which is _plafond_.

Because the question was raised relative to the Spanish term _techo_, I went to the _Gran Diccionario Español-Esperanto_ by Fernando de Diego and found the following:

*techo*plafono _(parte interior)_ ◊ tegmento _(tejado)_ ◊ _techo de paja_, pajl-tegmento ◊ _Téc._ tegmento _(de auto, de vagón, etc.) _◊ _Avi._ plafono _(de avión)_ ◊….


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