In Brazilian Portuguese, “d” when followed by “i” or “e” is pronounced as a “j”. So “dia” sounds like “jia”.
Now this is interesting. This morning on the elevator someone said “bom dia” and I briefly thought he was French; that he’d said “bonjour”. I never could figure out how “day” was related to “jour”, but I can figure a trajectory from day to dios to dia to jour.
Still not getting the good-to-bon connection, but whatever.
That’s funny. Portuguese always sounds kind of like French to me anyway.
“Good” is of Germanic origin, I assume (“gut” in German), so there probably isn’t a good-to-bon connection without going way back to the ur-languages.
Interesting (but random and I don’t know if it’s reeeeally related, because I’m tired and the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet :P) is that the Gaeilge phrase “good day” is “dia duit”, which is pronounced (in most areas) jeea- jit.
I love your blog (almost as good as your books!) 🙂
Portuguese and French are Romance languages descended from Latin. About six out of every ten English words used in common language are derived from Latin, but “good” isn’t one of them.
Notice they similarities: “bom” in Portuguese, “bon” in French (and in Spanish, it’s “buen dia”).
Thanks for the compliments, Amanda.
I should have thought of the German thing. Too much sleep deprivation.