# Romance Languages: While



## ronanpoirier

I don't know about other Romance Languages but what's the etymology of the word "while" in these languages?

In Portuguese = Enquanto
In Spanish & Italian = Mientras & Mentre --> these seem to share a common root...

And what's the word for "while" in your language?


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## jazyk

I remember mentre was used in Portuguese as well in the 12th century. The famous Canção da Ribeirinha has this word (I'm saying it by heart):
No mundo não me sei parelha
Mentre me for, mentre me vai.

Sorta kinda that or anything to that effect.


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## vince

French has a few words of unrelated etymology:

pendant que
alors que

Anyone know where these came from? And where did "mientras" go in French?


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## Outsider

My guess would be that the conjunction _pendant_ is simply a repurposing of the identical adjective, which means "pending", in the sense of "unfinished".


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## Cecilio

Hello everybody. In Catalan we say "mentre". I have found that these words (mientras, etc.) come from the Latin phrase "dum interim" (in Old Spanish the word was "demientre". Curiously, in Spanish there is a colloquial expression which is similar, and quite common: "de mientras" (="meanwhile"). A more standard version is "mientras tanto", in Catalan "mentrestant".


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## riccio

vince said:


> French has a few words of unrelated etymology:
> 
> pendant que
> alors que
> 
> Anyone know where these came from? And where did "mientras" go in French?


Also _tandis _[< tamdiu] _que_.


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## AGATHA2

jazyk said:


> I remember mentre was used in Portuguese as well in the 12th century. The famous Canção da Ribeirinha has this word (I'm saying it by heart):
> No mundo não me sei parelha
> Mentre me for, mentre me vai.


 
Ola Jazyk, Sabe se ese texto encontra-se en internet ?


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## Vanda

Agatha,

Canção da Ribeirinha, here. Under the subtitle 'Pt medieval poetry'.
While there, don't forget to read the others as well.


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## AGATHA2

Vanda said:


> Agatha,
> 
> Canção da Ribeirinha, here. Under the subtitle 'Pt medieval poetry'.
> While there, don't forget to read the others as well.


 
Obrigadissima, Vanda


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## robbie_SWE

In Romanian we have some different ways of expressing it: 

*în timp ce*: literally "_in time that_", Lat. in tempus quid (my own translation).

*pe când*: literally "_on when_", Lat. per quando (my own translation). 

Hope this helped! 

 robbie


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## jazyk

> *în timp ce*: literally "_in time that_", Lat. in tempus quid (my own translation).


If you were striving for a literal translation, it's correct, but that wouldn't work in Latin, where you'd have to say in tempore in quo.


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## robbie_SWE

jazyk said:


> If you were striving for a literal translation, it's correct, but that wouldn't work in Latin, where you'd have to say in tempore in quo.


 
Yeah, thanks. I am able to read and understand some Latin, but my knowledge concerning Latin grammar isn't good. 

 robbie


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## Tino_no

In spanish you could also see "en cuanto" every now and then, specially in literature.
Saludos!


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