The Spanish libra (“pound”) comes from the same Latin word word, libra, meaning, “pound; balance.”
From that root, we get the English: equilibrium (literally, an “equal balance”) as well as deliberate, which literally means “to weigh carefully” (with the de– emphasis).
In Spanish, you weigh literally — but in English, metaphorically.
You can see the l-b-r root in all of the words.
Nerds love to pattern-match, to find commonalities among everything. Our approach to learning languages revolves (the same -volve- that is in “volver”, to “return”) around connecting the Spanish words to the related English words via their common etymologies – to find the linguistic patterns, because these patterns become easy triggers to remember what words mean. Want to know more? Email us and ask:
morgan@westegg.com
Here at ForNerds, we love meeting and talking to other people who love learning Spanish, etymologies, and any other topic in nerdy ways. Drop us a note and say hi!
morgan@westegg.com
