Old age and care

The sixth entry is o descanso do cuidador, and the two languages name the same week of relief from opposite ends. Portuguese says the plain thing, the carer’s rest. English calls it « respite care », and the first word repays a minute. It comes from respectus, a looking back, and so does « respect ». The Latin verb respicere meant to look round at something, which is how one noun could end up carrying both regard for a person and a pause in a burden — the pause being the moment you are allowed to look back instead of pressing on. English took that noun twice over: once through French, worn down to « respite » and kept for delays and reprieves, and once straight from the books as « respect ». They are a pair, and nothing in the sound of them says so. The practical point for this list is that « respite » never means rest in general. It is always relief from something continuous, which is exactly what o descanso do cuidador is.