compa* and campa*

Google Translate translates
company; companion; campaign; countryside
into three Romance languages as

English: company; companion; campaign; countryside
French: entreprise; un compagnon; campagne; campagne
Spanish: empresa; compañero; Campaña; campo
Italian: azienda; compagno; campagna; campagna

Other than company, which is interpreted as "commercial business" here instead of "companion", there is one pattern in the translations: com- (literally "together") for the sense of "companion" and camp- for the sense of "field" or "countryside". Knowing this helps distinguish Spanish compañía (both "company" as commercial business and "company" as companion) and campaña (two senses, "battlefield or political campaign" and "countryside"). Note other than the difference of the second letter, the first word also has í while the latter does not.

English company more commonly means "commercial business". In this sense, it's often translated as société in French, but entreprise and compagnie (note the second letter) will do, too. In Spanish, empresa is more common than compañía.
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Published on March 12, 2020 07:00
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Learning Spanish, French, and Italian Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics

Yong    Huang
(1) Small corrections and updates to the published book, "Learning Spanish Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics"
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