Bajo – Base
The Spanish bajo, for “low”, sounds unlike the similar words in English…. except for base.
Think about base as the core foundation or support — the lowest thing holding everything else up — or even in the old Shakespearean sense of “vile”, “the basest weed” — the connection makes much more sense.
Both come from the Latin basis (meaning, “foundation”) — from which we also get the same English, basis.
And think of the bass cleff in music, for the lower notes, as well.
The surprising connection is explained easily when we understand that a lot of sh- and si- and related sounds in Latin turned into j- in Spanish. Thus, the b-s maps to b-j almost exactly.
Revancha and Vindicate
- Posted by Morgan
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
The Spanish revancha (“revenge”) comes from the Latin vindicare, meaning — surprisingly — “to vindicate.”
Revenge, after all, is just one way to vindicate yourself!
If we remember the reinforcing re– prefix, we can see that the v-n-ch of revancha maps to the v-n-(d)-c of vindicate.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Nube – Nuance
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
It is obvious that nube (spanish for “cloud”), and its cousin nebuloso (“cloudy”), are related to the English nebulous: a SAT word meaning “unclear”, just like the sky is when it’s cloudy. This one is easy.
But did you realize that nube is also related to the English nuance?
Nuance comes from the Latin nubes, meaning “cloud” – from which we also get the almost-identical Spanish word.
Although this is less obvious, we can see the pattern here: a nuance is a slight shade of meaning, just as the cloud adds a slight shade to the sky.
Nuances, therefore, by definition, stop the clarity of sunshine from shining in, and cloud our judgments!
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Asqueroso and Scar
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
Asqueroso is the common Spanish word meaning “disgusting.” ¡Qué asqueroso! is the common Spanish exclamation of disgust, as is its closely-related cousin, ¡Que asco!
Asqueroso (and asco) come from the Latin eschara, meaning, “scab” (which itself is from the Greek eskhara meaning the same).
From the same Latin (and Greek) root, we also get the English… scar.
So, in Spanish, something that is so disgusting literally scars you!
We can see the mapping in the s-qu-r of asqueroso to the s-c-r of scar.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Quedar and Quiet
- Posted by Morgan
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
Quedar (Spanish for “to remain”) comes from the Latin quietare (meaning, “to rest”), from which we also get the English… quiet.
It is clear how a word meaning “to rest” becomes quiet — it’s hard to rest when there are jackhammers outside, as there coincidentally are right now! — but how does a word meaning “to rest” become “to remain”?
The answer has to do with the notion of, what remains after everything else leaves. The food is sizzling hot — but it’s the quiet, sad pieces just sitting there, that no one wants, that remain. There’s a lot of noise and ruckus — and when all is said and done, only silence remains. Life is a tale, full of sound and fury… and nothing remains (what Bard almost wrote!).
We can clearly see the qu-d of quedar map to the qu-t of quiet.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Celoso and Jealous, Zeal
The Spanish celoso and the English for the same, jealousy, come from the same Greek root: zelos.
But how did this happen? They should so different!
The answer is that the Latin (and Greek) words with a -ch- sound and variations (like -sh-, the soft -j-, -z-, etc) usually turned into the hard, guttural, throat-clearing -j- sound in Spanish. Think about sherry and jerez, for example, or quash and quejar, or soap and jabón.
Thus, the c-l-s of celoso maps to the j-l-s of jealous.
Curiously, the ancient Greek form — zelos — meant jealousy, but in a more positive sense of enthusiasm and friendly rivalry. In a word: zeal — which also comes from the same root!
what is the etymological way to learn spanish?
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
patterns to help us learn spanish:
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