Finding and renting a flat

Two entries apart on this list stand spazioso and confortevole, and the second is where an English reader hands over one word to a language that keeps two. « Comfortable » covers a chair, a hotel room, a pair of shoes, a salary and a state of mind, all with the same adjective. Italian divides the work. Comodo is the everyday one — una poltrona comoda, scarpe comode — and by an easy extension it also means handy or well placed: un appartamento comodo alla stazione is close to the station, and faccia con comodo tells somebody to take their time. Confortevole is the narrower and more written word, and it says that a place is pleasant to be in. It belongs to hotels, to flats and to advertisements, which is exactly where this list found it, and it is never said of a person. The two English senses that neither of them reaches are the figurative ones. « Comfortably off » is about money and comes out as benestante; « comfortable with the decision » is about the mind and comes out as a proprio agio. One word going out, four coming back.