Cuello (Spanish for “neck”) comes from the Latin collum, also meaning “neck.” From collum, we get the English… collar. We can see the c‑ll mapping in both.
More interesting, though, is from that same root, we also get the English accolades, which is just collum with the classic Latin ad- (“towards”) prefix.
How did we get from “towards the neck” to “giving honors and awards”? Well, accolades was originally used in the sense of, resting the sword on your shoulder–like the King does to you when he turns you into a knight. Being knighted was the ultimate honor you could receive, with the king bestowing it by placing the sword on your shoulder.
Since medieval times, apparently, honors have become increasingly easy to give and receive, since know we get accolades for every little “job well done”!
on Jan 2, 2021Superseer (Spanish for, “to discontinue; cease”) comes from the Latin supersedere which in term is a combination of the prefix super- (“above”) and sedere (“to sit”). When you stop doing something — you’re now, literally, sitting on top of it. At least in Spanish.
From the Latin sedere root, we get various English words related to sitting, including:
From the same Latin root sedere we also get the Spanish… asiento, the common word for, seat. Now that makes sense, doesn’t it?
The s‑n-t/d root is visible in most of these words. Note that in superseer, the middle ‑n- disappeared: hence the ‑e- on both sides!
on Dec 31, 2020Asunto (Spanish for “subject,” in the sense of, “theme”) come from the Latin for the same, assumptus (“taken”) — from which we get the almost identical English, assume.
Interestingly, assumption originally had a fully religious connotation, something we often forget or I sometimes vaguely remember today: you’re received into heaven. An assumption, in its modern sense, is really just a religious belief actually!
The Latin root assumptus itself comes from ad- (“up, to”) and sumere (“to take”) — so when you assume, you’re really “taking it up”!
The a‑s-t of asunto maps clearly to the a‑ss-(m)-t of assumption.
on Dec 30, 2020Charlar (Spanish for “to chat”) comes from the Italian ciarla — as does the English… charlatan. We can see the ch-r‑l root in both easily.
Interestingly, the English word has taken a negative turn while the Spanish, not so much. I would attribute this to the Anglo-Saxon culture’s looking down onto talk without action, while the Latin culture’s focus on talk even if it means inaction.
Also from the same root is the English, charade. Charade, like charlatan, contains the negative connotations of the appearance, not reality.
on Dec 30, 2020Cosecha (Spanish for “harvest”) comes from the Latin collectus, meaning, “collected.”
This makes sense: a harvest is, well, just collected.
Although the English collected is almost identical to the Latin, we can see how the Latin changed into the Spanish: the ‑ll- turned into an ‑s-, in a curious change. But — as is more common — the ‑ct- became a ‑ch- (think nocturnal/noche or octagon/ocho). Thus, the c‑ll-ct of collect maps to the c‑s-ch of cosecha.
on Dec 29, 2020