Cobrar and Recuperate
The Spanish cobrar (“to charge”; in the sense of, to charge a fee or collect a payment) comes from the older Spanish recobrar (meaning, “to recuperate”) — which itself comes from the Latin recuperare for the same “to recuperate.” We can see the c‑b‑r mapping to the c‑p‑r clearly, since the ‑c- and ‑p- are often interchanged. Lesson: charging […]
Eje and Axle
The Spanish eje for “axle” comes from the Latin for the same, axis. The English axle comes from the same common ancestor as the Latin axis, the proto-indo-european root *aks- also meaning the same. The Spanish eje is easy to understand if we remember that most of the x/sh/ch sounds in Latin and the ancient languages […]
Carne and Carnival
The Spanish carne (“meat”) is surprisingly related to… carnival. The original carnival — the wild annual February parties in the Roman Catholic countries — were, after all, a meat market in many senses of the word! Also related, more literally, is the English carnage. You can see the c‑r mapping in both the English and Spanish words clearly.
Presupuesto and Presuppose
Today’s pattern is another entry in the “obvious in hindsight” category. Presupuesto is the common Spanish word for “budget.” Sounds arbitrary and hard to remember. But it turns out, this is just a participle of presuponer, which is conjugated just like poner and means… to presuppose. We see the relation between the words obviously in the […]
Amigo and Friend
Today’s etymology is simple and to the point — and, for me at least, was completely unexpected: Amigo (Spanish for “friend”), comes from the Latin amare, “to love,” a common word we see everywhere, as in amor and amante. So, a “friend” is literally someone you love. The best part is that there is an exact parallel to English […]
Rehusar — Refuse
The Spanish rehusar — literally, “refuse” — sounds odd to English ears: it’s the same word, but the ‑f- became an ‑h-. Huh? This is explained via the pattern of Latin words that began with an f- tended to turn into an h- in Spanish and only in Spanish. See famine/hambre, and huir/fugitive for example. Refuse and Rehusar follow the […]
Arena — Dirt and Stadium
The Spanish arena means “sand” or “dirt” while the English arena means, well, arena (something similar to a stadium). Nothing to do with sand! Or so it seems… Interestingly, both come from the same root: the Latin harena which meant “a place a combat, usually a sandy place” but came from an older, Etruscan word meaning, “a sandy place”. From […]
Lleno — Plenty
Llenar — Spanish meaning “to fill” — comes from the Latin plenus, meaning “full”. This, therefore, connects it to the English for the same, from the same root: Plenty. Not to mention, the less common English word plenary. These words sound so different yet they’re so similar. Here’s how: Latin words that began with pl- usually turned into ll- […]
Jeringa — Syringe
Jeringa, Spanish for Syringe, sounds like it has nothing in common with its English counter-part. But they are literally the same word. The Latin sh- sound often evolved into the j- sound in Spanish — originally retaining the sh- sound but eventually, under Arabic’s influence, transforming to the throat-clearing sound we know and love. This explains how both jeringa […]
Quizás and Savvy
Continuing the recent saber and sage conversation… Quizás (Spanish for “perhaps”) comes from the Latin qui sapi — literally, “Who knows?”. The sapi in that phrase is from the Latin for “to know”, sapere, from which root we get the English… savvy. Someone who is savvy just knows a lot about the subject! The final ‑s of quizás […]
